One Thousand Pieces
by ratiasu724
Summary: A new story, a new main character, but same old bleach. Please give review and tell me what you think so far, thx. Note: mild swearing. A white soul reaper appears... an invasion of hollows... a secret release.
1. Introduction and Information

**Bleach Fan fiction, by Ratiasu**

I'd like to say a thank you firstly to _Elemental Hero Raeven _whoinspired me to write this fanfic in one boring chemistry lesson. He's also my proof-reader and has literally messed up my story-line three times during the planning. Also he created three of the new characters. Thank you to one of my friends at school in particular who allowed me to kill his character multiple times for comedy (you'll see after the second part starts). Also thank you to other friends who allowed me to use their names later on in the story and who helped me with descriptions and other minor details.

This story will happen after Aizen is defeated in Hueco Mundo and 20 years pass by. A lot of things happen in that time my arcs and Aizen's defeat. I will explain them all now. Firstly, there are many changes to the division captains and vice-captains. I will list the characters that I will use below. I will put '**NEW**' by all the additional characters that I have created. This story will be mostly based around them. I will list all divisions and changes, but only a few of the characters will have a big part will actually take part in my story. Furthermore, Ichigo and his friends won't be appearing in my story, after Hueco Mundo they went back to the real world and went on with their normal lives. This story happens in Soul Society and the real world, (revealed later on) and an alternate dimension.

I apologise for my tenses, I can never do them properly, then again you could call it my style of writing.

P.S. Fell free to skip ahead to the prologue and the rest of the story and if there's someone or something you don't understand check back on the information here. Also a new chapter will be uploaded every week, how frequently and how many, well i don't know, I just know they'll be at least one a week. If you find any mistakes or erros please tell me in reviews, thank you. Hope you like it, enjoy.

This story is on going and will take me a VERY long time and probably for you a long time of reading, i'm planning at the least 5 parts to it.

**Information**

**Divisions of the Gotei 13**

Div. 1 – Captain – Hisaigo Ukimori **NEW** (Unknown character as of yet who wields a unknown based blade, only recently appeared and taken over).

Vice - Chōjirō Sasakibe

Div. 2 – Captain - Soifon (Commander of the Special Forces and Executive Militia)

Vice - Marechiyo Ōmaeda

Div. 3 – Captain – Raven Ruhodesu **NEW **(Nickname: Rae) (Male. A young fellow uses scythe based blade. Twin of Naomi, friends with Crystal)

Vice – Izuru Kira

Div. 4 – Captain - Retsu Unohana

Vice - Isane Kotetsu

Div. 5 – Captain – Hikari Uera **NEW **(Nickname: Kari) (Female. Friends with Ratiasu, Ketu and Haruka)

Vice Captain – Naomi Ruhodesu **NEW** (Raven's twin sister, friends with Crystal)

Momo Hinamori was ashamed that she had idolized Aizen, and in the end she quit being a soul reaper and disappeared and didn't stop even when Toshiro tried to help her.

Unranked Soul Reaper – Haruka Rose (Nickname: Rika) **NEW** (Female. Can use both shikai and bankai, but never shows it until necessary, my 'sort of' main character. Friends with Ratiasu, Hikari and Ketu)

Div. 6 – Captain - Byakuya Kuchiki

Vice Captain: Renji Abarai

Div. 7 – Captain – Ketu Zakura **NEW** (Nickname: Ket) (Male. Has a dragon shikai. Friends with Ratiasu, Hikari and Haruka)

Vice Captain - Tetsuzaemon Iba

Sajin Komamura chased after Tosen during the Hueco Mundo arc, and he disappeared afterwards with Tosen.

Div. 8 – Captain - Shunsui Kyōraku

Vice Captain - Nanao Ise

Div. 9 – Captain - Crystal Kyoraku **NEW** (Female, reappeared and took over div. 9, cousin of Shunsui.)

Vice Catain - Shūhei Hisagi

Div 10. - Captain - Tōshirō Hitsugaya

Vice Captain - Rangiku Matsumoto

Div. 11 – Captain - Kenpachi Zaraki

Vice Captain - Yachiru Kusajishi

3rd seat - Ikkaku Madarame

5th seat - Yumichika Ayasegawa

Div. 12 - Captain: Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Vice Captain: Nemu Kurotsuchi

Div. 13 – (Standing) Captain – Rukia Kuchiki

Vice Captain – Ratiasu **NEW** (nickname: Terri) (Female. Friends with Ketu, Hikari and Haruka)

Ukitake became even sicker after fighting against the arrancars, so he quit the captain post, also the two third seats, since admiring him so much also quit so they can look after him. Rukia, is now the standing captain because she has no bankai, and Byakuya finally stopped being so protective of her and let her have this post.

**Background information on Hikari, Haruka, Ketu and Ratiasu**

In soul society, two girls lived closely as friends both from well off families, they were Hikari and Haruka, who when they were small thought their names sounded alike and became friends. They both also lived in Rukungai, but in a district far away from Raven and the others.

One day when they were out on the streets, they noticed a baby boy lying on the ground. Out of the goodness of their heart they took him home and fed him and looked after him.

After a few years, Hikari and Haruka entered Sereitei and both graduated extremely fast, though Haruka still graduated faster and both at div. 7 to begin with, and leaving poor Ketu behind.

Hikari and Haruka both received training from Sajin who thought they both had potential, then after both of them achieving Shikai they thought they'd learnt enough and started making fun of Sajin's mask and keep asking him to take it off. Sajin, in the end, got annoyed and moved them under Aizen.

But after only a few days under Aizen's division, they both disappeared, no one found out why. Only later (after hueco mundo) to learn that Hikari have masterd bankai and Hisaigo, needing a captain immediately placed Hikari as captain of div. 5 and said nothing about Haruka, so unwilling to leave Hikari, Haruka begged Hisaigo to let her be in div 5 with Hikari. In the end Hisaigo gave way and let her go as an unranked member of div. 5. (Haruka also knows bankai and shikai but she won't show it).

Meanwhile, Ketu is now bored everyday, so after a while he meets a young girl named Ratiasu, who was from a poor family at the time and takes a liking to her. They became friends, very close friends and Ketu started calling Ratiasu Terri just out of randomness at the start, but for some reason the name stuck, so everyone who knows Ratiasu now calls her Terri.

A few years go by and Ratiasu and Ketu entered soul reaper academy. Ketu was able to graduate straight away because he had raw talent (like Toshiro) and was offered a seat in the thirteen divisions but he decided against it and stayed behind to help out Rataisu. Both went under division 13 when graduated, because Ratiasu became friends with Rukia, so they followed her. After a while, Ketu got bored of Ukitake illness and constant absence all the time, so he decided to leave for good because he isn't getting any action, i.e. no fighting. He disappears; Ratiasu who liked and loved (they developed a close relationship during the times they were together) him runs after Ketu and disappears with him. They both reappear a few years later and seems **very** close together, also both achieved bankai over the length of time they were away together. They came back to join back the Gotei 13. Hisaigo knowing that having them two together might cause problems due to overprotection by both of them, separated them two. He placing Ketu as cpt of div. 7 and Ratiasu vice-cpt of div. 13, and surprisingly they didn't argue with him. However, little does he know that Ratiasu and Ketu meet almost every night on the rooftop of Ketu's house.

**Background**** information on Raven, Naomi and Crystal**

Crystal had been playing outside one day in higher Rukungai, but got lost, and  
eventually wandered somewhere deep in lower Rukungai.

Living in a bad bit of Rukungai, Raven and (twin) sister Naomi fend for themselves until they find a lost girl (i.e. Crystal) who belongs to a family in a good part, so they take her back.They grew up friendly and entered Seireitei together. All placed in 5th. Raven and Crystal were slightly suspicious of Aizen's behaviour when around vice captain (Gin), so Aizen moved them to 11th. Naomi was very idolising of Aizen. (much like Momo though to a lesser degree).

Afterwards, Raven made friends with Ikkaku and Yumichika (and Tetsuzaemon) who trained with him, and Crystal became friends with Yumichika (mainly for beauty tips). When they learned all they could, they asked Kenpachi for a transfer, who agreed.Raven moved to 13th, as Jushiro wanted to train him (talent was well known, he had a shikai and was unseated). After Jushiro couldn't carry on, account of his tuberculosis, Raven moved to 8th, Shunsui took over training. Crystal had moved to 7th in the first place and quickly moved to vice. Naomi had worked her way up to 3rd/4th seat in 5th.

Shunsui then couldn't teach him anymore (Raven acquiring bankai), and Byakuya took an interest in Raven after seeing him fight, so took him as 6th vice. (this is a time when Izuru, Momo, Renji and Rukia were still in academy).Raven one night sees Aizen and Gin discussing things, and Aizen notices releases shikai and hypnotises nearby shinigami to believe Raven slaughtered a load of shinigami, who is then trailed and subsequently banned from Soul Society. (But Yamamoto gives him the job as guardian of the gates of hell). Crystal is outraged and leaves. Naomi is horrified that Raven would blame Aizen and disowns him.Later, during Hueco Mundo, Yamamoto asks Raven back, and Crystal makes a reappearance. Then they are decided as captains of 3rd and 9th, respectively, by majority vote by Yamamoto, Jushiro, Shunsui, Kenpachi, Sajin, Byakuya and Mayuri, and because Yamamoto allowed him to come back, Raven has held a deep respect for him, and the place of Division 1 captain (until Hisaigo appeared so quickly after Yamamoto's death). Toshiro, Retsu and Soifon give it the all clear and they become captains during the big arrancar/soul reaper battle.

Shunsui allowed his cousin to be cpt. because he was confident in her abilities.

Raven and Naomi were originally in a poor family who got murdered, them included. They lost their parents in Soul Society, as many kids do. That murderer happened to become a hollow.

**Character Descriptions**

Hisaigo: Wears uniform normally, usually a quiet person. Always seems to be calm and collected. Dark brown eyes with dark brown hair. Shows no emotion at all. Short sleeves. He is never seen outside his office in division 1 and very little is known about him. Height – 187cm.

Haruka: Wears normal soul reaper uniform. Long blonde hair, with a butterfly clip holding it in place. Has blue eyes, always looks pale because her skin color is very white. She always wears a bracelet around her wrist of attached to the bracelet are little birds and butterflies and flowers. She is a kindhearted person, never lets anyone down, and always helps out if she can. She is always looking out for her friends, is always modest and tries to hides her skills. She uses a sword called 'Hidoragon' it's abilities will be told in the story, and loves to play shogi against Hikari. A bit lazy and can fall asleep unexpectedly at times. Also she seems tired most of the time. Height – 176cm.

Hikari: Wears normal uniform and if she can, will avoid wearing her captain uniform because she doesn't want to look like she's better than everyone else. Her skin is pale coloured, but not quite white. She has long hair, half-dyed yellow and the other half orange with two hair pins holding them so they don't block her eyes. She carries her sword by her waist. She also has blue eyes. Has a usual attitude, can get emotional if she upset someone. She's usually a very nice person to talk with and hang out, but she will hurt you if you get her mad, although that doesn't happen very often. She's mostly a relaxed person always tries to stay calm and think things through, never rushes into anything, always has a plan, she's very clever. She has always enjoyed a quiet game of chess/shogi in her spare time. Height - 168cm.

Ketu: Wears usual uniform except always has the captain uniform draped over his shoulder. Always wears a necklace of a dragon (given to him by Ratiasu). Medium length black hair straightened with a long fringe that doesn't cover his eyes. He has brown eyes. He has a carefree nature, likes to be praised. Most times he's a soft person but in times of combat he is very vicious and doesn't show mercy. He never tires out and doesn't sleep a lot. His favourite pass times include walking round seireitei and greeting everyone, enjoying a nice chat. Also enjoys star gazing at night with Ratiasu. Ketu has a weird personality, he has never once shown anger but he's always a strong fighter. He's skinny and doesn't look at all strong and will kill you if you underestimate him. He's also a very caring person wouldn't let anyone down, though can be a bit of a loner at times. He would always look out for the people he works with even if he hates them. He's especially protective of Ratiasu. His sword is carried on his back (similar to Histugaya). Height -179cm.

Ratiasu: (Always called Terri by friends) Usual uniform, only puts on her vice captain arm band when required. ALWAYS wears a vermilion coloured scarf around her neck. Has long sleek silver hair, with nothing holding it in place. She wears a necklace of a dragon given to her by Ketu. Wears earrings when not fighting, strips of red ribbon dangling from the earring. She's a peaceful type of person, always tried to avoid fights when possible and hates it. Her kimono is tied together by a large vermillion ribbon. She has heterochromia as well, in which one of her eyes is vermillion (yes vermillion again, woo) and the other blue. She has amazing healing abilities and can heal just about any wound. She also, like Ketu, has a carefree nature and always seems happy (can easily get angry when faced with criminals though or cowards) and can be seen happily skipping around on the hillsides. Sometimes lazy and prefer sleeping rather than doing anything. She's too soft for her own good sometimes and shows too much mercy. So she's perfected her flash step ability so she can run away when she can't handle killing the enemy. Her combat abilities are mainly on speed (Just to put it into perspective for you, her speed is about 7 times the speed of Ichigo when he's in Hollow form) she can hit you 100 times in less than 2 seconds and you wouldn't even realize what has happened. She is crazy about the colour vermillion. She enjoys pointlessly wandering seireitei in mornings and afternoons and stargazing with Ketu at night-times. She hates making people wait and she hates waiting for people. She also hates letting people down. Her sword, like Ketu, is carried on her back. Height - 170cm.

Raven: Wears normal captain uniform, though the colours are mainly black. (the only white is the division number on the back of his (haori is it?)). He wears a sleeveless shirt thing too (like Tosen). He also wears black, fingerless gloves, and has long black hair, and near black eyes. Hair style similar to Ukitake. Raven has essentially a noble-personality (like Byakuya, who doesn't believe in those who disrespect higher authorities), but also from his time in 11th, gets that wide smile if he fights a fight worthy of him. He is very rarely showing emotion, as he blames himself for not attempting to protect his family. He also has dual weapon skill from his time with Ukitake and Kyoraku, which he uses from time to time with a spare katana (which just happens to be Shinso, won from Gin Ichimaru in the hueco mundo arc) in his bankai's sealed sheath. Height – 186cm

Naomi: Wears normal vice captain armband, and the division number on her arm, like others. She also has long black hair and near black eyes. Her hair is brushed to the sides of hair face, as to not get in her eyes during combat. Naomi has a wild personality, in opposite to her twin brother, and is normally in a good mood, but holds deep tragedy for what happened for her death. Her time in 5th made her skilled at kido, and also somewhat skilled in swordsmanship, allowing even a bankai to be formed, however it overpowers her up till now. She is also very trusting to her brother, now that he was shown to be correct, and feels sorry for betraying him. Height – 184cm

Crystal: Wears normal captain uniform, but has a more white motif, the only black being her number on her back. Also has gold lining on her outfit, to show her noble status. Has a condensed soul-silver hairclip used to keep her hair out of her eyes. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes (which doesn't look anything like Shunsui). Crystal is of a noble line, so does act "holier than thou" at times, but does care for everyone and everything, even Mayuri, the crazed psycho that he is. She will get angered easily though, and her bankai can purify anything created by despair (hollows, arrancar). In many aspects, she's like her cousin Shunsui, (happy-go-lucky etc.) but like him, can back it up with pure skill and power. She also tries to throw subtle hints at Raven to take interest in her, but he's too emotionless to notice, until something happens. Like Raven however, she enjoys a good fight, from her time in 11th, and so dons the crazed smile when she has a close battle.

**Sword information**

**Hikari**: Rozehana – Rose petal (Attack – Ben dansu) pronounced 'rozana'

Shikai – Released by the incantation 'blossom' nothing changes to the blade of handle, small blades start rising from the guard and encircles the main blade like petals on a flower. She can fire them out continuously and they will never run out.

Gosai rozehana – red rose petal (Attack – hanayaiba)

Bankai – The sword shatters and splits into thousands of little red blades, with fly above her, and she has full control over them, to use as attack weapons. However these blades have 7 times the firepower and speed of her normal shikai release form.

**Ketu**: Kazedoragon – Dragon of wind (Attack – rezataifuu)

Shikai – Command for release 'fly' the sword disappears and reappears as a dragon's head above him. He can command the dragon as his weapon and the wind defends him as he has no weapon to hold. His attack allows him to shoot wind at the opponent like sharp blades.

Kazetatsujin – Master of wind (Attack – kazeken)

Bankai – Dragon grows 8 times in power and takes the shape of a real dragon, and Ketu is given full control of the wind which he can also use as a weapon or shield. All commands are given by his hand movements.

**Haruka**: Hidoragon – Dragon of light (Attack – shiraenkouya)

Shikai – Phrase for release is 'Brighten the darkness', the upper part of hilt changes to a dragon's head. Handle grows longer by 5 cm and becomes thinner and turns red. Blade extends by 10 cms, also becomes thinner and turns red. The sword is able gathers spirit energy from its surroundings and fires them out in a powerful concentrated white beam (like an arrow, but not quite).

Terasuhidoragon – Illuminated dragon of light (Attack – shiraenkouyari)

Bankai – It's an unusual bankai, because the appearance doesn't change at all but everything, speed, power etc. increases by 10 fold. She hasn't actually used her bankai except for practice, so no one knows she has it, same goes for shikai (except for her friends that is).

**Ratiasu:** Doragonsumiyaka – Dragon of speed (Attack – kyokudochisoku)

Shikai – Command for release is 'flash'. A weird shikai because nothing appears to happen, but actually, something does. Her speed does up by 3 times and her kido abilities are boosted, it's attack 'kyokudochisoku' makes Ratiasu flash step immediately above the opponent which she can then do any kido move on the opponent or just slash downwards with her sword. This ability can only be used 10 times in one shikai release however as it uses up much of her spiritual energy. This sword has a second ability, this'll be revealed near the end of the part two.

Doragonkisakisumiyaka – The dragon queen of speed (Attack – none just increases speed, which I say is enough)

Bankai – This is a funny bankai as well as the sword still doesn't change, but two dragon wings sprout from her back and allow her to fly and they also increase her speed by a massive 20 times (you can't begin to imagine how fast this is, it's close of the speed of sound). 2nd ability, it can change into any sword's shikai the owner has seen, as long as the owner knows the command and name of the shikai in question, but it only has half the power of the original sword. Also if anyone defeats her when she's using bankai it'll automatically heal her when it reverts back to her normal sword form.

They all have 'doragon' because they are all dragon based swords.

**Raven**: Kujotenshi – Destruction angel (Attack - Kurotsuki Yaibahana)

Shikai - Released by "delete", turns into scythe, can create razor sharp darkness based on his kido. It can also nullify his spiritual pressure that people can sense, making him very stealthy.

Kurohane Kujotenshi – Black wing destruction angel (Attack - Kurotsuki Shinkuuyaiba)Bankai - scythe grows a bit. Sky darkens quite a lot, and it gains 5 black feathers on the handles end. These feathers can be released but move slowly. If they all touch an opponent, they can delete them from existence, either temporarily, or if all touch the same place, permanently. Raven also gains black wings which draw in spiritual pressure for him to use to power his bankai. It can use the kido based abilities like before. It gains 2/5 of its total power every time it misses a target with the actual blade. When the blade touches the targets blade or the target, that power is released and reset to the original power level.

**Crystal**: Youshatenshi – Purity angel (Attack - Shirosan Kiyome)

Shikai - Released by "purify", turns into halberd. Releases beams of light or lightning to fend off or "purify" enemies created by sorrow (i.e. Hollows, Arrancar, etc.). A jewel in the middle of the blade can shine brightly to blind and stun enemies. With this, she can also create a light-based shield.Shirohane Youshatenshi – White wing purity angel (Attack - Shiro Taiyou Kiyome)Bankai - splits into two smaller axe-like weapons, but with bigger blades. Crystal gets white wings on her back, and she has a more "sparkling" look to her. Her axes, when slashed at an opponent, make shining marks. If two of those marks cross (like a Quincy cross) then the opponent starts being dissolved (purified) by the light from that point of their body. She can also use her shikai kido powers too, and creates a bright aura that envelops her, so that enemies can become blind if they are overexposed.

**Naomi**: Seireitenshi – Spirit angel (attack - Oozora Reitentei)

Shikai - Released by "shimmer", turns into a bardiche mounted on a staff. Doesn't do any damage at the start of a fight, except for the blade damage, but can absorb kido attacks and melee attacks, and fire one beam back at half the strength of the absorbed power.

Kozumikkukouken Seireitenshi – Cosmic guardian spirit angel (Attack - Kozumikku Reitentei)Bankai - grows into a double-bladed staff-mounted bardiche. Currently, she can absorb all attacks she receives into her blades, then can release a blast at 3/4 power, as full power hasn't been achieved yet. Later on, her bankai reveals it can clone her form, albeit as a shadowy form, 8 times in total. These clones have 1/4 of her power, and are destroyed after a few hits, but can act totally of their own accord. She can then fuse the clones into a giant form of her zanpakuto spirit, which attacks with its blade through the opponent, then disappears. During her bankai, she can form one white and one black wing, which work the same as the others.They are all "-tenshi" as they all were made from the same piece of  
soul-condensed steel.


	2. Prologue

**Prologue – ****A Disturbance in the Night**

Outside Seireitei, to the east, on a winding hill at 2:50 at night, there sat a young girl. It was at the edge of the hill, she was leaning against a tree, relaxing and watching the stars having just escaped her chores issued by captain Uera. She laid there, crickets chirping, owls hooting and other animals sleeping in the bushes and birds randomly flying through the black night sky. The stars were blinking down at her, as if to say hello. All is calm, until suddenly a big white fiery object comes flying out the sky aiming for the east gate. Haruka, immediately stands up, and stares at the white ball of fire. In a fraction of a second later, 'BOOM' it made contact with the eastern sereitei gate and the impact created a massive shockwave. And a second later, there is calm again.

'Hmph, looks like the fun's about to begin' said Haruka, with a wide smile on her face.

**-------------------------------------------------**

ALERT! ALERT! The intrusion alarm sounded throughout Division 12, it was 3am in soul society all was quiet outside. Mayuri woke with a start and rushed to the research department to find out what has happened, across the polished oak wood floor to the main research lab.

'What's going on?' asked Mayuri. As he clambered through the front door, that everyone were all already fully awake and at the ready. The lights have been lit everyone seems so busy, like its normal working time and not the middle of the night.

'Sir, reporting in. A ryoka has just blasted his way through the eastern gate.' answered a researcher nearby sitting by a number of other researchers all on what looks like computers.

'Put it on the screen now'

'Yes sir'

The nearby researcher fumbled with a few buttons and switches and the black TV like screen flickered on to show the eastern gate untouched. A second later, there's a massive explosion, and the gate flew apart into pieces. One piece came flying straight at the camera, and the signal was lost.

'That's all we have sir, unfortunately the ryoka knocked out the camera before we could get a clear shot of him.'

Mayuri has no change of expression; he just stood there thinking for a few minutes. Eventually he said, 'Looks like I've got to report this to the captain commander.' He looks around, then 'Nemu, keep an eye on things here while I'm gone. Don't do anything unless I give the word.'

'Yes sir' Nemu said in a smooth voice, suddenly appearing out of nowhere from the shadows. Mayuri put on his captain uniform and hurried out of the research department to report to Hisaigo.

Mayuri stepped outside. Everything was still peaceful, as if nothing has happened. The moon was shining brightly above in the black and darkness of the night cutting through the darkness. The stars were blinking down at him as if to greet him. The night was cold but Mayuri felt nothing.

'A bit too quiet.' he says 'hmm…, I'll worry about that later.'

And he was off, he was flash stepping his way to Division one's headquarters. But on his way there, he stopped by the remains of the eastern gate. The gate guardian has been brutally slain straight down the middle been split in half, there was blood everywhere. Bits of rock and rubble were scattered everywhere on the ground. There were only a few houses nearby. But no lights were turned on, seems like no one noticed the explosion.

'Who could have so much power to do this? If I find him, I must do some experiments on him.' he thought to himself gazing around the area.

It was as if someone could read his mind. His answer came in a high-pitched male sounding laughter.

'Ha ha ha ha ha, you want to know who did this? I will tell you. It's me. Ha ha ha ha' a voice echoed through the darkness of the night.

Mayuri, sensing danger quickly drew out his sword.

'Who is this? Show yourself now or prepare to die. Either that or submit to my testing, I assure you I will be easy on you.' said Mayuri, holding his sword upwards in a threatening manner.

'He he he, you really shouldn't threaten people who are far more powerful and superior that yourself, it may end up in your death.'

'That's what you think. But let me tell you something, I don't die that easily'

'No it's not what I think it's the truth, but I won't kill you today, not yet, I'm going to kill all of soul society at the same time, so I think you should run along now and report to your captain commander.' The voice now sounds evil, mocking, and unusually high.

'Ha, try and make me,' holding out his sword getting ready to attack at the slightest movement in the shadows.

'I will' The next thing that happened took a fraction of a second, the ryoka flash stepped straight in front of Mayuri and not giving Mayuri enough time to look at his face, punched him with a powerful hit and sent him flying across the rooftops. 'Have a nice trip, ha ha ha ha.' - 4a.m.

Mayuri kept flipping backwards across the rooftops and finally crashed into the walls of Division 1. He stood up, spat out some blood and said, 'Urgg, what the hell just happened,' rubbing his head 'urh, guess I got to report this seeing as I'm already here,' and he flash stepped to the front door and started banging on the door. Chojiro opened the door.

'What do you think the time is, the captain commander is resting, no disturbances,' shouted Chojiro.

'That's quite alright Chojiro, I sensed something has happened so I woke up early today. Have you got something to report to me Mayuri?' Hisaigo said walking towards Mayuri from the big staircase. It was almost as if he was expecting something was going to happen.

'Yes sir, there has been an intrusion by a powerful ryoka, he has blown up the eastern gate and is in sereitei now.'

'Tell me more about this ryoka' said Hisaigo, calmly and doesn't look at all alarmed or surprised. Mayuri went on describing his scene with the ryoka, carefully leaving out the bit that he got punched across the rooftops.

'Hmm… I see, well now this seems like an urgent matter, send hell butterflies to all captains immediately, we need to have a captain meeting right away,' and again, Hisaigo said this almost as if nothing has happened. His voice showed no urgency at all, a bit too calm to act after a ryoka just blown up the eastern gate.

'Yes sir' said Mayuri and Chojiro at the same time.

----------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile happening two hours before this at around 2:50am Ketu was lying on top of his roof waiting for Terri to arrive.

'Hmm, I wonder what's keeping her, she's usually here around 12, ah well I'm a nice guy, I'll wait' thought Ketu.

It was a silent night like every other night. The stars shone brightly in the black sky, and the moonlight lit up the sky a bit. No lights were on, just silence. A breeze swept past the roofs, but Ketu didn't care, he was too much enjoying himself watching the stars. He stood up and enjoyed the breeze, until he heard panting by beneath him.

'Sorry I'm late, got held up by Rukia,' said a calming yet annoyed voice beneath him. Terri jumped up onto the roof and sat down beside Ketu.

'Oh? What happened? You're never usually this late, in actual fact this is the first time you've been late,' asked Ketu.

'Well, this is the first time I got spotted by someone, which unfortunately happened to be my captain, but I think she didn't get a look at my face because it was dark and also I was quite a far distance from her. Well Rukia like a good captain, chased me down like I was some sort of criminal, it was easy enough to get away with my speed of course, but unluckily I winded up lost in a weird place, guess I need more practice directing my flash step, but then again I was panicking a bit, so it's only natural I got distracted and didn't look where I was going,' replied Ratiasu in a hurried and panicky way.

He gave a wide blink as if to say 'wha?.' 'Ok.' There was a little pause. 'Calm down Terri, I'm not blaming you, heck I'm just happy you're alright, you worried me a bit. Don't worry about a thing, as they always say, there's a first time for everything and in your case is being late. Nothing to worry about so just relax and enjoy the night's sky', said Ketu comforting Ratiasu.

Taking a deep breath Ratiasu stopped panting, lay down with her head resting on Ketu's stomach and closed her eyes. 'Sure is quiet, I can almost hear the crickets squeaking.'

Ketu also lay down, and gazed up towards the heavens. 'Yes 'tis very quiet, just the way we like it,' and there they lay for the next few minutes enjoying themselves.

Ratiasu opened her eyes first and looked up at the flickering stars and the ever-glowing crescent moon. 'The stars are beautiful tonight, ahh I'd hate to think of a world without stars or the moon. I think they are the most beautiful things ever.'

Ketu opened his eyes, 'Not true,' he sits up, 'There's nothing more beautiful in this world than you, my darling Terri'.

'Ah, that's sweet' she sits up and smiles and hugs him. They stayed like that for a minute. It was blissful oblivion with the moon watching over them from above.

Minutes pass and finally they let go. They both lie down again and watch the stars, Ratiasu's scarf fluttering in the cool breeze.

It is now a few minutes before 3am. Up in the sky, unknown by all a small gate to hueco mundo has just opened and the white soul reaper has just passed through into soul society. He comes flying down and aiming straight for the eastern gate.

Ketu was the first to notice a bright object flying through the black sky, he says 'hey Terri look up there' pointing to the east, 'something is flying towards Seteitei, I wonder what it is?'

Ratiasu, sitting up again looks towards the direction Ketu was pointing to and sees the object soaring downwards in the east, 'hmmm, maybe it's a shooting star. Quick make a wish Ket. You know what I wish for. I wish, for us to be together forever.'

'I don't think that's a shooting star' sounding a bit worried now. 'It's flying downwards, oh crap; it's aiming for the eastern gate'. As soon as he said that, a blinding flash of light erupted from the object and crashed into the eastern gate. There was an almighty crash, Ketu and Ratiasu dived down and shielded their eyes from the flash of light. Then everything was quiet again. Ketu and Ratiasu waited, a few minutes pass and still nothing, and they stood up and looked around.

'What the hell was that?' asked Ketu, with the expression of utmost terror on his face.

'I don't know, but what ever that was, it was certainly frightening' Ratiasu said, with a shaky voice and holding onto Ketu's left arm.

'Do you think anyone else noticed? If they haven't then I think it's my duty as a captain to check things out' though he said this, he didn't really want to leave Ratiasu alone just yet.

'No please don't go, it's dangerous, and besides I'm sure the research department must have picked it up' said Ratiasu.

They both sat down again, not uttering another word, just listening for the slightest sound. And then they saw it, someone was flipping over the rooftops in the direction of squad one headquarters.

'Did you see that?' asked Ketu

'Yeah, who was that?' Ratiasu replied, her voice now calmed down a little.

'Don't know, but it looked like whoever that was, was flying backwards in a awkward fashion, as if he just got hit or something similar.' Ketu was getting even more worried now, and fearing for Ratiasu's safety he said, 'I think we should call this a night Terri, we'll find out what that explosion was tomorrow, but you need rest so I think you should go back now.'

'Awww, I don't want to leave you, not now after what just happened. At least promise me that you won't go investigating on your own, please' said Ratiasu, almost pleading now.

'I promise, don't you worry, I won't go looking for trouble. I'm not that stupid am I?'

'Ha, I certainly hope not,' just as soon as she said that a hell butterfly approached them both.

'Hmm? What's the message?' asked Ratiasu

'Basically, Hisaigo wants to have a captain meeting right now. I reckon it's about that explosion we saw. Well looks like I have no choice, but seriously, this late at night? I haven't slept yet, oh well, looks like we separate for tonight now then.'

'Ok, tell me what the assembly's about tomorrow morning though. Actually just come round to my house, that'd be easier' said Ratiasu, a bit happier now for some reason.

'Alright I'll meet you there then, have a goodnight, and I'll see you in the morning my darling.' He blew her a kiss and flash stepped away towards squad one headquarters. Ratiasu also flash stepped away back to her house and seeing nothing unusual, except for Rukia flash stepping past her towards division one (luckily again not noticing Ratiasu). She went to sleep straight away looking forward to seeing her dear Ketu again in the morning.


	3. Chapter 1

**Part one – The White Soul Reaper**

**Chapter 1 – And so, it begins**

A hell butterfly was casually flying towards division 9 to deliver its message to the captain. The butterfly sees its target room and flutters in through the window. The room was completely dark, except for the bright moonlight flooding in through the open window. Crystal's gold lining on her clothes hanging on the opposite wall reflecting the moon. It is a large room, with a study type of table, a big bed and two cupboards by the walls. A framed picture of her, Naomi, and Raven together graduating the academy together and other pieces of random paper were on her table. The butterfly slows down and carefully lands on her nose. Crystal instinctively moves her hand to try and get off what's on her nose (she's still asleep of course). She doesn't hit, so the butterfly just walks about on her face and steps on her eye, which at last wakes her up. She opens her eyes a bit, and sees a tiny black figure in front of her.

'Aaarrhhhhh, what the hell' she screams frantically trying to get rid of the insect, 'shoo, shoo, I'm trying to sleep here'. After a few seconds she realises what the butterfly is and calms down.

'Whoops, sorry little butterfly, what's your message then?' She listens to the message, 'an assembly at this hour? If that old fool of an idiot Hisaigo, doesn't have a very good reason for this, I'm gonna kill him.' She gets out of bed, and gets dressed, looking rather cross. After brushing her hair for a few minutes, she picks up her sword, and leaves through the front door.

'Ah what a lovely, peaceful night' she sighs, 'I would've enjoyed it more if I was sleeping though.' She flash stepped past a few blocks of houses. And then she remembers something.

'Hey, why don't I go see Raven? Yeah, knowing him, he'll be sleeping like a rock; I doubt a butterfly has any chance in waking him up.' Thought Crystal, and at that she changed her direction and went to division 3's houses.

Upon arriving, a few guards ran up and shouted 'Who goes there? State your name.'

'I am Crystal Kyoraku, here to wake up Raven cos we have a captain's meeting now and I doubt he'll be woken up by a butterfly. I also have the hell butterfly that delivered my message if you don't believe me. But I actually don't care cos I enjoy a good fight even if it's an effortless win.'

'Please forgive us Captain Kyoraku, we could not make out your identity in the dark.'

'Apology accepted, good job though, you guys have good reaction speeds'

'Thank you for your compliment ma'am, we go about our duty the best we can to serve the Captains'

'Wonderful, then can you help me out. You see everything looks so different in the dark, and I can't see Rae's house, do you guys mind guiding me?'

'Of course not ma'am,' the two guards now accompanied Crystal and walked to Raven's house. It took longer than Crystal thought seeing as how she can just get there with a couple of flash steps when she knew where it was, but now she has to walk and it seems to take forever. They walked on corridors mostly, weaving in and out of other houses on the way. 10 minutes past and they finally arrive. Walking through a big gate, they saw Raven's house, on either side two smaller houses, stood, (i.e. the living room and dining room). Between the gate and his house there's a massive square shaped garden type area and on either side are pathways going to other places. Many trees surround the area with an assortment of plants, many of which are flowers.

'The lights are still off, looks like I was right, he's still asleep, that piece of rock. Well it's time for a wake up call' said Crystal, not even attempting to keep her voice down.

She flexed her muscles and was about to smash down the door when the guard stepped in and said 'No ma'am, you can't just kick down someone's front door. Allow us to knock first'

'Alright I guess I was being a bit rude, but make it quick, we're gonna be late.'

'Yes ma'am' one of the guards, crept up to the door and ramped on the door, hard with his knuckles. 'Sir, Captain Kyoraku is here to see you' no answer, 'Sir are you awake?' still no answer.

'I'm gonna take that as a no' said Crystal getting a bit impatient now. 'Can't we just unlock the door and go in? He has got a meeting right now. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.'

'I guess we can, only this once though' said the other guard by Crystal.

'Good, then unlock the door and hurry it up, we'll probably be the last ones there by the look of things.'

One of the guards got a key out of his pocket and slowly and quietly unlocked the door. 'Please pardon my intrusion but you have a meeting now sir.' All three of them go in after a moments of silence. Raven, was still in his bed, a hell butterfly sitting on his head, and he's breathing silently facing the wall. The room was dimly lit, two tables and a bed, his clothes were hung onto a few chairs, and his sword was right by his bed in reachable distance. A shelf of books is by his tables and underneath his tables are pieces of random bits of paper.

'Wow, never knew his room could be so messy' said Crystal very sarcastically. 'Ok, time for the wake up call.' She walked over to Raven, stooped down by his eyes.

'WAKE UP YOU PIECE OF ROCK.' She screamed the six words down Raven's ear accenting every word.

'Hmm?' said Raven. He was still just barely awake after opening his eyes a bit.

'Well mister sleepy head, us captains have got an emergency meeting now, and your late, so am I because I had to come and wake you up.' Said Crystal in an annoyed tone (then again, who'd blame her).

'Oh so, that's what that hell butterfly is for, ah I see' then suddenly realizing what he just heard, 'humph, we're gonna be late, where's my uniform.' He said, though looking as though he doesn't really care.

'Hanging on your chair' said Crystal.

'Wait for me outside, I'll just go get dressed' said Raven, who has calmed down a bit too much for the situation.

'Alright don't be too long', said Crystal, a bit relieved now. She and the guards walked out of Raven's room. The two guards left and went back to their posts at the front door. Crystal waited for about 3 minutes before Raven shows up fully dressed carrying his sword on his shoulder, showing no worries at all.

'Ok, I'm ready, let's go' commanded Raven still expressionless.

The trip took only 2 minutes; both Raven and Crystal's flash steps are all very fast so that was expected. They both landed on the roof and saw Shunsui walking casually towards the meeting hall. They were both relieved at the sight of him (Although Raven isn't showing any expressions).

'Well looks like we aren't the only ones who are late' said Crystal breathing a sign of relief.

'Hmph, Shunsui.' murmured Raven, in disbelief and disgust.

'Hey Shunsui, over here' shouted Crystal, who flash stepped next to him and jumped on him.

'Oh hey little cous, how are ya' said Shunsui looking tired as always.'

'I'm good, I'm good. How are things with Nanao? Made a move on her yet?' asked Crystal, looking suddenly energetic.

'Ha ha, you're a funny one aren't you? I don't know what you're talking about' replied Shunsui, hiding a smile underneath his oversized hat.

'You know perfectly well wh -' but she was cut short by Raven

'If you two don't stop chit-chatting we'll be in trouble, although I really couldn't care either way, but even so, I'd hate to get in trouble with that Hisaigo guy, he doesn't seem right…' and he trailed off at that.

'Oh yes sorry, guess we should go inside then. But did you have to say it in such a mean way?' said Crystal no sound of sadness or uncertainty at all. Raven didn't answer. He just swept ahead of them both and made his way into the meeting hall.

They approached the gigantic doors of the hall, which was guarded by two guards standing on either side of it. As soon as the three captains approached the doors, they swung open revealing the massive high ceiling meeting hall. It was brightly lit by two big lights hanging from the ceiling, the head captain Hisaigo was patiently waiting at the front. All other captains were already standing at their positions waiting for the meeting to start.

'Ah, so you've finally arrived.' said Hisaigo smiling at the three captains who've just entered the hall.

'I apologize for our tardiness Captain Ukimori, but we ran into some unwanted business on the way.' said Raven bowing to the head captain giving a glare at Crystal, who didn't seem to notice and just walked to her usual spot in the hall.

'That's quite alright, I should apologize also for calling everyone up this late, but it was an emergency so I had no other choice.' Hisaigo waited until everyone was in their places and said 'ok now that everyone is here, I believe it's time to being. I'll make my speech short and hand it over to captain Kurotsuchi.' He paused, 'Basically to put it simply, we have an intruder, a ryoka if you will in out territory. Just be careful because according to Captain Kurotsuchi he is extremely fast and strong, and no one knows what he looks like.' He paused again and looked around the silent faces with different expressions.

'Hmm, looks like a good fight' thought Kenpachi 'I better get to him before anyone else can

Hikari sighed, 'Terri won't be happy with this, I know how much she hates fighting, meh, guess I'll clear this guy out before Terri can hear about it.'

'Now I will hand this over to captain Kurotsuchi who will give you the full details' said Hisaigo moving aside. Mayuri walked up to the front.

'Good morning everybody, it is a bit early today so I won't keep you guys here for too long. Now, the intruder alarm sounded today at exactly 3:00am. I'm guessing many of you were still in bed so you wouldn't have seen or heard the explosion of the eastern gate being blown to pieces today.' He stopped looking around at the shocked faces only 2 were showing nothing.

'That's what he thinks' thought Ketu.

'Anyway, with the information I have gathered I can say for sure that that this person blew open the east gate without much effort, and it would take much force to blow open a gate. Also I have gathered that this person calls himself 'The White Soul Reaper'. Also I regret to inform that the eastern gate keeper Hihanko has been brutally slayed and sliced in half. Unfortunately that's all the information I could in the short time I had at the scene. Lastly, I just want to put everyone on high alert this White Soul Reaper person is armed and dangerous, so be on guard.' As soon as he stepped off the stage a big crash sounded outside the hall doors.

'Hey, who are you'

'Stay back, there's a meeting in progress.'

Two guards shouted warnings at a person who sounds like he's approaching the meeting hall.

'I'm warning you, stay back or I'll -' but the guard never got to finish because as soon as he said that there was another crash and the guard screaming in pain.

'What the hell's going on out there?' said Crystal staring at the door, no one answered her. Until the hall's door just flew apart and was blown into pieces. Everyone flash stepped backwards to get as far away from the falling debris as possible.

'Who's there? Answer me.' Hisaigo was the first to say anything as he stepped out into the open. A white figure slowly came into view from the dust fog that was in the air.

'Ha ha ha, well, well if it isn't the 13 Division captains,' a high pitched voice echoed all around the hall.

'I'll ask again, who are you?' Hisaigo said once more looking calm as usual.

'Oh I must apologize. I haven't properly introduced myself yet'. He stepped into the open. It was a young man in his 20s or so. He had a diagonal scar straight across his face, medium length hair, bright flashing red eyes with very pale skin colour. He was wearing a usual soul reaper uniform, expect everything was white, and even his sword which he was holding in front of him. His sword was (what looks like) a normal katana.

'I am mostly known as the White Soul Reaper, that name was given to me a very long time ago, and I'm guessing you all noticed why.' he said pointing to his clothes. 'But many hundreds of years ago, I did have a name, I actually prefer being called my name, but not many people know it, so I'm going to tell all of you what my name is. My real name is Usaitar Zakihara, so now you know; call me that instead of White Soul Reaper'

'Fine, so your name is Usaitar, ok. What are you doing here?' asked Hisaigo who hasn't moved an inch.

'What am I doing here, ha, you ask a funny question. Well let me give you a little history lesson. About 500 years ago, I was the best soul reaper ever to be in seireitei, but no one liked me, they all thought I was too powerful, so you know what they did? They exiled me, banished me from soul society, they even locked my sword away, but getting it back wasn't so hard, but even so, I hated soul society, and now that I have an army of hollows under my control. I've come back to get my revenge.' at that last word he jumped up, swung his sword once at the ceiling. It looked like nothing's happened but a second after he swung his sword something hit the ceiling and it blew apart out wards with a tremendous crash.

'What's with that power?' thought Ketu ducking out of the way of a piece of falling rock.

As soon as the dust cleared a massive hole in the ceiling could be seen. Usaitar jumped out and went off into the sky.

'I think it's about time I invited some friends over to play' laughed Usaitar who opened up a gate to Hueco Mundo. A second later Gillian type menos and what looks like hundreds of hollows started swarming into soul society.

'Stop this at once, what do you intend to do' shouted Hisaigo, though his expression hasn't changed.

'Me, I intend to have a war. And since I'm a nice person I won't start this war straight off.' He soared more up into the sky. 'I won't even be sending my entire army until later. I want to test the strength of your men first. So, I'll give you 24 hours to prepare, at 6am tomorrow morning I'll lead off my first assault, on the eastern gate once more, and if no one is there to stop my entry, well then a lot of civilian will just be hurt. So I suggest you prepare for war. Oh and don't worry, I'll go easy on you in the first assault, no menos will participate in that attack.' He laughed again.

'Are you insulting us,' shouted Raven glaring at Usaitar.

'No, I'm just being like the kind person I am' said Usaitar having a wide smile on his face, and then he disappeared with the rest of the hollows.

There was silence in the hall, which now looks like it just got heavily bombed with debris and rubble everywhere. Everyone had stunned faces (except Byakuya, Raven, Kenpachi and of course Hisaigo).

'Well, well. You all heard him, it's time to prepare for war' said Hisaigo after a long moment of silence. He walked forwards a bit so everyone could see him and spoke again 'Since they've declared war on us, then we shall also declare war on them. It's going to be special war time rules, the release of zanpakutos are permitted anyway, if you see a hollow do not hesitate to kill it. His first attack will be tomorrow at 6am on the eastern gate. I'm going to ask divisions 3, 5 and 7 to handle his first attack tomorrow morning is that clear'

'Yes sir' said Raven, Ketu and Hikari.

'Furthermore, I want all the other divisions to get ready for the long term fights. Division 11 most importantly need to prepare to face many enemies. Division 4 have all medical soul reapers on high alert so if a soul reaper is injured anywhere you've got to be able to get there quickly. Is that understood?'

'Yeah, yeah' said Kenpachi in a, whatever fashion.

'Of course sir' said Retsu bowing.

'The other remaining divisions, be ready at all times. Prepare yourselves and always be on guard, when the war starts divisions 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 are going to face the enemies. Division 12 will work on strategies etc. This is war now. Division 3, 5, 7 meet together at the eastern gate tomorrow at 6, do not be late. This meeting is dismissed.


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – A walk in the park**

All the captains are now walking out of what's left of the main hall. Naomi walked on the other side of the path. She and Raven exchanged a glance in which they both nodded at each other before Naomi flash stepped away after that. Crystal ran up to catch up with Raven.

'Hey, don't walk off so fast' Crystal said finally catching up and panting by him.

'What is it this time?' said Raven, as calm and emotionless as ever.

'How about a sparring match? You could use the practice seeing as you've got a big fight tomorrow. Come on you know you want to.' pleaded Crystal, grabbing his arm.

'With the likes of you? You could never defeat me even if you had a millions years in training. A sparring match with you wouldn't even be a warm up for me,' said Raven coolly.

'Do you have to be so mean' said Crystal pulling a face from behind Raven's back. 'You've only beaten me once.'

'Actually I count three. Besides, you heard what Hisaigo said, I need to ready my squad for battle so I hardly think there's time for a sparring match. Go fight with someone else, I've got things to take care of.'

'Ohhhhhh, fine, go away then' huffed Crystal.

She was standing in the middle of a large platform like structure. There were no trees or any sign of life on this square white platform. Most of the other captains have already flash stepped away to their squad headquarters the only ones remaining are Crystal, Raven and Shunsui (who was curiously watching the two from the hall entrance way). After Raven who also flash stepped away, back to squad 3, Shunsui approached Crystal.

'Don't mind him, you know what he's like' said Shunsui putting a hand on Crystal's shoulder. 'Come on cous, I'm going to the library to do some research on this White Soul Reaper guy, would you like to come and help me.'

'Ohhh, I'd love to come but Raven's right, we need to prepare ourselves or at least tell our squads what's going on.'

'Don't worry about that, I can see that your always prepared to fight, and as for the rest of the squad I'll get Nanao to tell your vice-captain and I'm sure Shuhei will tell your squad.'

'Well if you put it that way, then alright, I'll go with you.'

'Oh, before we go.' he stopped, turned round and loudly said 'Nanao, I need some help.' As soon as he said that Nanao flash stepped in front of him.

'What is it Captain?' asked Nanao.

'Ah my lovely Nanao, how are you to-' he didn't get time to finish because Nanao has just slapped him in the face.

'Don't say that, especially not in front of anyone else' said Nanao through gritted teeth.

'Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have done that, but what do you mean 'anyone else'? The only other person is my cous, she'll understand.' He signed and stood up straight. 'Well I'll get down to business then. You do know that someone invaded seireitei last night, don't you? And that all squads need to prepare for an upcoming war.'

'Of course I know, everyone's panicking and shouting everywhere it's not exactly hard to notice.'

'Good, anyway I'm going down to the library with my little cous here to do some research on the intruder. So, could you go and inform both mine and Crystal's squads to prepare themselves for war?' asked Shunsui looking unusually serious.

'Of course captain. I'll be on my way then.'

'Thank you.' shouted Shunsui after her, she immediately flash stepped away.

'There we go, that's that sorted, now shall we go?' asked Shunsui waving a hand in front of Crystal.

'Yeah, let's go.' And they both set off for the soul society library together.

----------------------------------------------------------

About five minutes later Ratiasu was patiently waiting in her room for Ketu to come, her scarf was already around her neck glimmering in the sunlight. She has only just woken up 10 minutes ago sitting on her bed staring out the window at the cherry trees outside. Her room was quite large, with a vermilion coloured theme. Paintings or roses and hills hung on her wall, in one corner stood a small table with many pieces of paper on it and a few pens. And the other a round table with two huge vases with a few branches of flowers in them. Her sword was leaned against the wall opposite her. A large cupboard was by the foot of her bed which was open revealing an array of clothing most of which was vermillion coloured. The room was very bright with five lights on the ceiling and three windows. She sat there waiting, until there was a knock on the down.

'Is that you, Ket?' asked Ratiasu, looking over at the door.

'Who else would it be, Terri?' said the voice outside. Ratiasu breathing a sign of relief went over and opened the door. Standing outside was Ketu beaming down at her. She flung herself at him and hugged him.

'Oh it's so nice to see you.' She said with her arms still round him.

'We've only been apart a few hours, come on let's go in.' he nearly carried her into the room and sat down on the bed.

'So what was that meeting about then?' asked Ratiasu sitting next to Ketu.

'Well to put it simply, this apparently really powerful guy has just declared war on soul society, so we all have to prepare for war and the bad thing is my division has been pulled up to face the first skirmish of his attack. Oh and this guy's name is Usaitar, or aka 'The White Soul Reaper' he's going to lead the hollows to attack us tomorrow. I would've thought Rukia would say something about it to you by now, she is your captain after all.'

'Well you see I only just woke up 10 minutes ago, so Rukia might've come by but I would've been asleep. Hmm, Usaitar, I'm sure I've heard that name before, hmm.' There was a while of silence when Ratiasu was deep in thought. After that, 'ah never mind can't remember. Couldn't this war be avoided somehow though? And are you sure your going to be ok? I wanna go with you.'

'Well, he didn't exactly give us time to say anything, he just declared war and disappeared to Hueco Mundo after that. And of course I'll be fine, don't bother tagging along, cause Rukia won't like it and I don't like it either, I don't want you to get hurt. Anyway enough about that wanna go to Rukungai and walk around for a bit? I'm supposed to prepare for war but you know me, I prefer a walk round with you.'

'Sure why not, that can be your preparation.' she said smiling. She also didn't respond to not going with Ketu tomorrow.

'Alright, then,' he stood up stretched a bit, 'put on some normal clothes over your-'

Ratiasu interrupted, 'Yes, yes I know what I'm doing. I'll just get my coat to cover my uniform.'

'Alright, I'll just get my coat on and I'll meet you at the west gate' said Ketu preparing to leave.

'Alright, see you there' said Ratiasu, before Ketu flash stepped out of her room. She went to her wardrobe and pulled out a large vermillion coloured overcoat and she put it on. She carefully tucked her sword underneath the coat and walked out the front door and immediately flash stepped towards to western gate. She arrived 10 seconds later and saw Ketu already there, standing and waiting, also wearing a large overcoat except it looked like what a poor person would wear (trying to fit in with the crowd).

'When did you get that outfit?' asked Ratiasu landing next to Ketu.

'I got it yesterday, thought this coat fits in better with the crowd, don't you agree?'

'Yeah I guess, maybe I should change to a poorer looking coat as well, I stand out too much in this.' Ratiasu said pointing at her coat, which reflects the sun very well because it's vermilion. 'Ah well it's not as if we're looking for trouble, nothing should happen.'

'Yeah, but being more careful can't hurt.'

'No guess not. Ok enough about that, come on let's go.' said Ratiasu waving her hand in the direction of the gate.

'Well as they say, ladies first, so after you Terri, meet you on the other side.

'How nice, see ya.' Ratiasu flash stepped on top of the gate and disappeared onto the other side. Ketu looked around, saw that no one was watching and followed her. Ketu landed on the other side a second later.

'No one saw us right?' asked Ratiasu, looking around and noticing there was no one here.

'Nope, it was all clear on the other side.'

'Wonderful, then off we go.' said Ratiasu, holding Ketu's hand.

They walked around Rukungai, looking at random spots in the district, 'a walk down memory lane' some people would call it visiting their childhood places, where they met etc. They were right though, Ratiasu's great vermillion overcoat did stand out a bit, seeming as quite few people kept staring at the couple when they were wandering round the streets. It must look odd to the passer bys seeing two people, one who looked rather poor and the other rather rich, walking hand in hand together. Good thing was, no one bothered them, people only stared, caused them no trouble, which was a relief.

They walked around for many hours through many streets past many houses. Ratiasu also saw a clothes shop on their trip and bought a new coat (vermillion coloured 'surprisingly') which doesn't look as fashionable as her other coat (which she secretly got one of her servants to take home) so she doesn't seem as rich. This helped them out a lot because no one stared at them afterwards, which left them to freely enjoy their afternoon out without distractions from random onlookers.

It was nearly five in the afternoon; they turned a corner and walked through what seemed like a busy market type place. There were many small shops on this long street, a few restaurants where many people are having their tea. Many voices could be heard saying things like 'I want that' 'that'll be' 'I'd like' etc.

They saw a quaint near empty little restaurant near the end of the street and Ketu asks, 'Wanna have our tea there? It would be a change to our luxury meals.'

'Sure why not, I'd like to see what they make here.' replied Ratiasu, who seems very cheerful that day.

They both sat down at a table, which was in front of four other men sitting huddled up together discussing something. As soon as Ketu and Ratiasu sat down, the four men broke apart and started eating like maniacs who had a disorder or something.

'Ewww, do we have sit near them, they make me sick eating like pigs' whispered Ratiasu.

'Shhh, keep your voice down Terri, we don't want any trouble remember, and it's not like these people have had any lessons in manners.' said Ketu shushing Ratiasu, at that moment a waiter type person came over to take their order. Their tea wasn't that great compared to what they eat inside seireitei but it was good to eat what they had eaten when they were small. The group of four left half-way during Ratiasu and Ketu's meal. They finished tea 10 minutes later and paid, after that, they just sat there chatting randomly about random stuff.

They both stood up and was about to leave when they heard a scream coming from further down the street and the four men from before running at high speed away from the street carrying large black bags.

'Thieves, help, thieves stole my shop, stop them somebody' screamed a girl, running after the four men, who tripped in the middle of her run and started crying. It took a moment before Ratiasu or Ketu realized that she had been badly cut across the leg and blood was dripping slowly onto the ground next to her.

'Bastards, they're gonna pay' said Ketu, starting to take his coat off and reaching in his uniform for his sword, until Ratiasu put a hand in front of Ketu.

'No Ket, let me handle this' said Ratiasu, who has already taken her coat off (she isn't wearing her vice-captain band) 'here look after my sword, I won't need it against these worthless thugs,' she gave her sword to Ketu and set off after the four men. She did one flash step and immediately ended up straight in front of the four men stopping them dead in their tracks.

'Hand over the stolen goods and no one gets hurt' she shouted warningly at the four.

'What's a soul reaper doing here?' asked one of the four looking at the other three.

'Never mind that, look, her sword isn't with her, guess it's out lucky day.' said one of the other four pulling out a large blade from his waist. The other three followed and pulled out swords as well.

'So you're going to use weapons against an unarmed girl? How pathetic and cowardly, I don't usually like fighting, but then again it's not exactly going to be much of a fight against you lowlifes,' shouted Ratiasu in a disgusted way.

'You're not one to talk woman, it's four on one. So I'll give you a warning, get out of our way or prepare to die.'

'Ohhh, I'm shaking. Come and get me then if you dare,' said Ratiasu putting her fists up. However, she doesn't really look at all threatening especially with her scarf slightly fluttering behind her in the wind.

The four men took up positions around her, one of them lunged pointing his sword at her. Ratiasu easily dodged by stepping back a tiny bit, she grabbed that guy's arm and threw him into another one of them who just started running towards her, they both flew backwards a few yards. The remaining two charged at her with arms out. Just the second before they were about to hit her she quickly flash stepped behind them, and they both collided with each other (with a comical crash).

'Die, bitch,' one of the two men who just been thrown has already got up and is right behind her, she had no time to dodge. Out of nowhere, Ketu came flying in with a kick aimed at that guys head and it hit with a sickening crunch which sent the man flying straight into a tree and he instantly fainted.

'Don't call her a bitch you fucking prick.' shouted Ketu looking rather annoyed.

'Nice of you to drop by' said Ratiasu smiling at him. She saw one of the guys about to get up and instantly flash stepped right next to him and kicked him in the face, after which he obviously fainted. 'Hey can someone get them to jail or at least tie them up so they don't do anymore crimes.' No one spoke, but two other men came out of the crowd tied up all four thieves and dragged them away, 'that's better.' Ratiasu walked over to the black bag picked it up and looked around to see that a group of people have gathered to watch the fight. She walked slowly towards them and they parted a way for her. She saw the injured girl still sitting there crying.

'Here, don't cry, I've got your things back for you' Ratiasu said placing the black bag in front of her. She looked up, saw the bag and cheered up a bit.

'Oh thank you very much miss soul reaper' she said wiping her tears and smiling at Ratiasu.

'Hey, call me Terri. Now let's have a look at that wound on your leg.' The girl showed Ratiasu her leg which had two sword slashes on it, 'doesn't look too bad, I can fix it' and she put her hand on the wound, a green aura appeared around the wound and slowly it closed up. 'There good as new. Well sort of.'

'Thank you again mi- I mean Terri.'

'Ah, you're welcome' said Ratiasu now standing up.

Ketu walked up by her side and side, 'it's getting late, I think we should go ba-' but he never got to finish because a soul reaper has just flash stepped next to them.

'Well, well, well, so this is where you've been hiding' said the Soul Reaper which happened to be Rukia Kuchiki 'I've been looking everywhere for my vice-captain, and here I am finding her out of seireitei. You do know that we are preparing for war right?'

'Captain Kuchiki, of course I do, I just… well… erm…' she went silent after that.

'Don't worry, I saw what you did for this poor girl, I'm not going to report you, although next time try and be more sneaky, you two were seen leaving via the west gate by, luckily, people from my squad. I'm going to turn a blind eye this time.'

'Thank you Rukia' said Ratiasu looking very relieved.

'No problem, I know how it feels like to just want to spend time with someone you love.' she said in an understanding way. With that word Ratiasu blushed. 'Well, just hurry back. I'll give you a detailed report when you get back. I've set up a training scheme for some unranked officers and ranked ones and I'll need your help to organize them.' she sighed. She turned around and faced Ketu, 'Captain Zakura, you are higher than me in rank as I'm only a standing captain so I'm obviously not going to say anything about you. I wouldn't want to anyway. But I do need to deliver a message from Tetsuzaemon seeing as he couldn't find you. He says that all preparations are complete and that we are ready to move out at your word.'

'Oh well thanks for delivering the message Captain Kuchiki.' said Ketu politely to Rukia.

'Call me Rukia seeing as I'm not a quite a Captain just yet' she said walking slowly away. 'Oh and good luck in your fight tomorrow, you'll need it,' and she flash stepped away after that.

There were a few gasps following Rukia's departure, mutterings about being in the presence of a captain and vice-captain etc (wouldn't you just love to have everyone talking about you? I actually don't, too much attention I say) .

'Well looks like the cat is out of the bag' sighed Ketu taking off his coat revealing his captain's uniform underneath it. This was followed by more gasps and chattering (too bad no cheering, but oh well). He put his hand on Ratiasu's shoulder and said, 'looks like it's time to go back. It is rather late after all.'

'Yeah I guess we should' said Ratiasu, looking down at the girl again 'well you take care, hope no more bad fortune befalls on you.'

'Thank-you again, Miss vice-captain' said the girl now looking happier than ever for some reason. 'Bye, hope you'll visit here again, oh and by the way, my name is Jenna.'

'Bye Jenna, you take care now' Ratiasu walked away, waved goodbye and she and Ketu both flashed stepped back to seiteitei, leaving the now crowded street and the four thieves.

**-------------------------------------------------------**

On the same day in the morning, Hikari has just arrived back home from the meeting and has ordered to have a meeting with her entire squad regarding tomorrow's war. Meetings starts at 1pm, Hikari took this time to do a little training. She went outside into her back garden and practiced her swordsmanship (which looks like dancing with a sword), after that she invited Haruka to her house for a relaxing game of Shogi. The game ended in an hour, which obviously Hikari won, after long turns for Hikari. They also had lunch together which was rather slow considering they were talking continuously when eating. They had a slight interruption where Tetsuzaemon came by to ask where Ketu was, which their reply to was obviously don't know (they actually do). Hikari's house was quite large with many rooms, the largest room just happens to be the dining room. She also has a very large garden where she either practices her swordsmanship or go for a game of Shogi. The large grandfather clock in one of the corners of the dining room sounded for half past twelve, at which they both thought it was time to go and get ready for the meeting. Haruka left and went back to her house. Hikari got her captain's uniform and put it on grabbed her sword and set off for Division 5 headquarters.

The trip took less then a minute as she flash stepped there and walked through the front door. She made her way to the meeting hall of the headquarters. Only 4 soul reapers were there (one of them being Haruka, and another was the Vice-captain Naomi), but then again she is early by 10 minutes. 10 minutes later everyone was gathered and the meeting started.

'Ok, well you all know why you're here. A ryoka has already broken down the eastern gate and killed the gate guardian. Moreover, he has declared war on soul society. But what you probably don't know is that we've been chosen to fight him tomorrow morning at six with two other divisions as an opening skirmish type of thing.' There was a lot of mutterings after she said that, but she ignored it and went all, 'we will all meet at six in the morning at the eastern gate to face this threat. He will be leading an army of hollows as well, so your job including the vice captain is to eliminate all hollows that try to enter seireitei, leave the ryoka to the captains. Naomi will lead you so follow her orders.' More whispers followed, Naomi just looked at Hikari and nodded. 'Good, and that's that, meeting dismissed.' She got off the 'stage' then remembering something got back up and said, 'Oh, before you leave could Haruka stay behind for a moment, I need to talk with her.' Everyone looked around at Haruka who just nodded and stood there.

Everybody left the hall, leaving just Haruka and Hikari behind. 'So, Rika, war tomorrow, how do you feel?'

'Sleepy,' said Haruka rubbing her eyes, 'and, I'm really not bothered, I can fight, and I won't let you down Kari.'

'That's good, are you sure you're going to be able to hide your Shikai and Bankai? I mean there's going to be a lot of hollows, and your Bankai would really help us against the ryoka.'

'Sorry, but I've said many times, my released forms aren't for show. And besides a few hollows can't cause me much problems and the ryoka is your job, didn't you just announce that?'

Hikari sighed, 'Well I tried, nevermind that then.' She looked at her watch, 'there's plenty of time before tea, what do you think we should do? I've got an idea.'

'Let me guess, another game of shogi?' sighed Haruka.

'How did you guess?' smiled Hikari sarcastically.

'Whatever, let's go then, I will beat you one of these days.' said Haruka in a tired way.

'We will see,' said Hikari waving a finger at her. 'Let's go' and they both set off back to Hikari's house.


	5. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – A Fight to Forget **

It was the crack of dawn; the sun has just risen above the hills and is silently shining down at seireitei, the trees and flowers reflecting its glow. Ratiasu was already awake and looking out her window towards the east. She was still deciding weather to follow Ketu or not and still hasn't made up her mind.

At the eastern gate, squad captains and vice-captains of three, five, and seven have already gathered with their subordinates and are patiently awaiting The White Soul Reaper to appear. The captains stood at the front followed by the vice-captains who are leading the normal soul reapers who are behind the gate ready to stop any hollows getting past.

Six o'clock just passed and still no sign of TWSR (The White Soul Reaper). 'You don't think this could be a trap and Usaitar is actually attacking the other gates while we're here do you?' Ketu said looking at the other two captains. Raven just turned his head the other way and didn't utter a single word.

'Don't worry, I thought this could be a trap so I went to all the other captains an hour ago and told them to keep watch over the other gates, so if he does attack them we'll know about it soon enough.' replied Hikari in a "as-a-matter-of-fact" way.

'Alright whatever you say, you are the clever one here.'

'Hmph' said Raven in an annoyed tone.

'Did you just say something?' asked Ketu trying to sound polite.

Raven turned around, but didn't have time to answer because straight in front of him a few meters away a black hole appeared which happens to be the gate way to Hueco Mundo. Hollows swarmed out of the relatively large hole in all shapes and sizes. Lastly came TWSR.

'Ehahahaha, sorry we're late, took a while to gather up my army.' The hole the hollows came through has just closed up and in front of what was the hole now stands a huge army of hollows big and small with TWSR standing in front. 'Now then, attack,' he said in a calm voice, and immediately the hollows started swarming towards the gate at the soul reapers. The three captains stood there waiting for the hollows two pass, they could hear their vice-captains shouting commands at the soul reapers. 'Oh? You're not going to stop them?'

'Looks like you've seen a ghost, or did you look in a mirror? Just thought I'd slip that in. Anyway if we stop you, then we don't need to stop them,' said Ketu smiling.

'Big words, coming from someone weak as well and I'll just pretend I didn't hear that ludicrous insult. If you think you can beat me, then you should think again.' He vanished and appeared behind Ketu a fraction of a second later. Ketu had just enough time to draw his sword and block the attack.

'Oh? So you're not that bad I see.' He disappeared once more and appeared in front of the three captains. 'Fine, then bring it on, I haven't had a good fight for years.'

'Oh we'll give you a fight alright. Fly, Kazedoragon,' he shouted throwing his sword up in the air and a dragon appearing the second later.

'Wait Ket, don't rush out into things,' shouted Hikari warningly. She looked around at Raven, 'are you going to help us out at all?'

'I don't need your help to beat this guy,' he said coolly looking the other way.

'Hey are you guys finished blabbering? Or are you too chicken to fight me? ' shouted Usaitar.

'Why that little-' Ketu stepped forwards only to be pushed back by Hikari.

'Calm down Ket, we need to be calm and collected. I think I've got a plan to defeat him, come on we can win this.' said Hikari calmly.

'Ha ha ha. Me?Lose to someone who washed their hair in a bowl of fruit this morning.' shouted Usaitar insultingly.

'You fucking idiot, you're going to pay for that, come on Ket, let's get him.' screamed Hikari dragging Ketu to confront TWSR.

'Calm and collected… What a hypocrite' muttered Ketu shaking his head.

Hikari stopped turned around, 'did you say something?' she asked in a really scary way.

'Erm… nothing' Ketu replied waving both his arms about.

'Good, let's get started. Blossom, Rozehana' she screamed, and blades start coming out of the guard of her sword and encircled the blade. 'Alright mister big white and ugly, prepare to die. BEN DANSU.' She screamed the last two words and instantly the blades encircling the sword shot out at Usaitar with amazing speed. He disappeared just before they hit and reappeared behind Hikari and slashed down with his sword. Ketu who saw his attack first raised his hand instinctively and blocked his attack by raising a wind shield behind Hikari. Hikari turned around and slashed which Usaitar easily blocked. Then he disappeared again reappearing above Ketu, and disappearing once again because as soon as he appeared blades came flying at him. He appeared once again behind Hikari who was this time ready for him because she instantly flash stepped away and shot more blades to Usaitar which he dodged by flash stepping again this time going after Ketu. Ketu saw this coming and used his dragon to parry the attack. Ketu and Usaitar both went mad with attacks after that flash stepping everywhere, hitting, and missing.

'He he he, you're not bad, for a weakling' laughed Usaitar at Ketu. They swapped more blows.

'Hey you can't just leave me out' shouted Hikari who was just standing there in mid-air watching them fight. Ketu didn't answer. He was locked in fast close combat and didn't have time to respond. Hey kept going, for ages it seemed an even match until Ketu finally saw an opening, he slashed, Usaitar ducked to avoid it. Ketu jumped back and screamed 'REZATAIFUU' pointing his hand at Usaitar. The wind grew speed and shot at Usaitar like blades, he had no time to dodge.

'Time for me to join in' said Hikari, 'BEN DANSU' and again the blades shot at him the combined attacks cause a massive explosion at where Usaitar was standing. The minutes pass and nothing happened.

'Did we win?' ask Hikari, standing there, waiting.

As if response to her question there was an almighty roar from where Usaitar was and the dust cleared away at once to reveal him still alive and not even a scratch on him. He stood there smirking insultingly.

'Ha ha ha' he laughed like a crazed maniac, 'is that it? Ha ha ha ha, that was weak. I've had more trouble killing a fly.'

Both Ketu and Hikari stared in disbelief and were too shocked to move and stop Usaitar's next attack. He flash stepped in front of Ketu first and stabbed him straight in the stomach. Blood came spraying out his mouth and where he was cut, Usaitar pulled the blade out and kicked him he landed on the ground hard and laid there unconscious.

'KET, NO' Hikari screamed staring down at the bloody mess.

'Don't worry about him, worry about yourself' said Usaitar appearing in front of Hikari and slashed her across the shoulder. Blood came streaming out her shoulder, she screamed and fell and also fell unconscious.

'Well, that was a waste of my time' said Usaitar looking disappointed. He now turned to Raven, who was still standing there and hasn't moved an inch. 'Now it's your turn' he shouted advancing towards Raven.

'Hmph, about time you're finished them' said Raven, pulling out his sword.

'You sound tough, but still, I doubt you'll last that long against me.

'Just try me.' said Raven, frowning. Usaitar made the first move, by flash stepping in front of Raven and attacking, Raven saw through the attack straight away and blocked with ease. They started swapping slashes quicker and quicker, their flash step and attacks was almost a blur. Neither seemed to be letting an inch, it looked even for a long time.

It seemed like a never ending fight until Raven jumped back from Usaitar and said, 'This is getting boring, I think it's time to end this. Delete, Kujotenshi.' The sword extended into a scythe.

'Oooooo, I'm so scared,' said Usaitar, in an insultingly scared way.

'You will be,' and Raven instantly disappeared hiding his spiritual pressure as well. He appeared behind and slashed with his scythe, Usaitar weirdly, knew this was coming and ducked. Raven, disappeared once again and hit Usaitar from the front, but he just raised his sword and blocked again. No matter how many times Raven slashed, Usaitar could always block.

'Hmph, not bad' said Raven calmly. 'Try this on for size.' He swung his scythe and a black blade shot out of his scythe aimed at Usaitar who flash stepped and dodged it and appeared to the left. Raven swung again and attacked with the same darkness based kido attack. Usaitar just kept dodging eve though Raven's attack came with increased speed every time.

'Why don't you just give up, you obviously can't stand against my attacks for much longer.' said Raven coolly.

'Ha, you really don't know what you're up against, do you?' laughed Usaitar. 'You haven't even seen my sword's release form and you think you're better than me? Well then, I will show you that your power is still too far from mine. My sword has no name, but I can release it though. OBLITERATE.' A massive wave of spiritual pressure erupted from Usaitar his sword's length increased a large amount into a voulge. His sword 'Ha ha ha ha, like that, well you're going to love this.' He raised the voulge above his head and spun it round at amazing speed. 'DIE. DESTRUCTION OF PARADISE!' As soon as he said the last words a huge amount of spiritual pressure erupted from the voulge blasting Raven out of the sky. He flew backwards towards the ground, just before he hit Crystal came out of nowhere grabbed him and flash stepped away to a safer distance.

The blast was just about to hit Ketu and Hikari when a flash of vermillion (Ratiasu's scarf) came flying in. Ratiasu grabbed Ketu, flash stepped away as well, immediately behind them came Haruka who also jumped in, and flash stepped away with Hikari. A moment later, all three of them arrived in the same place.

'Ket, wake up please, please be alright.' Ratiasu shock Ketu a few times pleading him to wake up, tears streaming down her face. Blood was still pouring from his stomach where he was cut.

'Hey, can't you just heal him? I know you have amazing healing abilities.' reminded Haruka who was next to her still holding Hikari.

Ratiasu sat up straight, wiping her tears and started looking serious, 'Ok' she calmed down put her hands on his cut, a large green aura appeared round her hands and the wound very slowly closed. The bleeding stopped, but Ketu didn't look like he was going to wake up. Ratiasu couldn't hold her tears. She hugged Ketu tightly and cried.

'Hmmm… well it doesn't look like she's going to stop, I'd better get squad four over here or carry Kari to squad four.' thought Haruka looking around the place they were in, which was a deserted area on the outskirts of seireitei.

Shunsui just walked in, and immediately ran to them, 'are those two going to be alright?'

'I think so but they've both lost a lot of blood, we need to get them to squad four.'

'I can carry them both if you want.' said Shunsui extending out his hand.

'That'd be great. Here take Kari, be careful with her. Let me just get Ket.' She moved over to Ratiasu still clutching Ketu and crying harder than ever. 'Come on let go of him, you've done all that you can, we need to get him to squad four.' She tried to move Ratiasu out of the way but she won't budge.'

'Here why don't I try,' said Shunsui moving towards Ratiasu. He crouched next to her and said, 'come on, why don't you take him to squad four then? I'll bring Hikari up. You just go on ahead. I'll catch up with you.' He said those words in such a relaxing manner that made Ratiasu stopped crying.

'Ooo.. kay' sobbed Ratiasu, she got up put Ketu on her shoulders and slowly walked away and disappeared into the distance.

'Well, I'll be off as well then. Get back to seireitei soon, we've got a massive meeting, I can feel it, and I've also got some history on this WSR that I need to tell everyone.' He left as well with Hikari on his back.

All this time they were talking, Crystal and Raven were arguing about how Raven didn't need to be rescued.

'I didn't ask to be saved, I could have easily got back up and defeated him.' said Raven still emotionless.

'Why you little, if I didn't jump in and get you out you wouldn't be breathing now' shouted Crystal looking rather vicious.

'Erm… you guys, this really isn't a good time to be arguing, I think we should go back and check on how everyone else is doing. I mean if this Usaitar guy injured three captains who knows what he can do against the other soul reapers, right?' said Haruka looking from Raven to Crystal.

Raven suddenly looked worried. He uttered one word, 'Naomi', and left in a flash.

'Hey wait for me,' shouted Crystal hurrying after him, followed by Haruka.

A moment later they arrived at what was the east gate but which was now the most horrific scene. The ground was completely soaked in blood, there was red everywhere. A few Soul reapers' had their heads sliced off clean. Many were badly cut everywhere. Some had their insides spilling out and blood pouring everywhere. Haruka, Crystal and Raven moved for a closer look.

'These aren't hollow wounds,' said Haruka studying a Soul Reaper near her. 'When I was fighting here we had already taken out nearly all the hollows. These look like sword wounds, Usaitar did this.' She stood up and searched around, 'I'll go and get squad four here.' She left and flash stepped in the direction of squad four HQ.

Raven was frantically searching around at fast pace, with a (surprisingly) worried face. A few minutes pass and he comes across what he was looking for. Naomi was lying face down to the ground with no visible injuries on her back. Raven ran to her and picked her up and rested her on his knee. Her face was covered in streams of blood; her black hair was almost all red. Raven (for some reason) put her back down, and stepped away, he had a very wild and shocked expression on his face.

'No, not again, this can't be. Not here, please, no, no, no, not now, why. Why does it have to be now? NO' he screamed that last word so loudly that a few hundred meters away many birds flew off their branches in fright.

'Er… are you alright Rae?' asked Crystal slowly walking towards him.

'Argghhhhhh' Raven went mad, his face changed to complete anger. 'I'll KILL HIM, THAT USAITAR BETTER BE READY. HE'S GONNA DIE' he screamed at the top of his voice. Then he flash stepped and vanished.

'No, Rae. COME BACK' Crystal screamed, knelt down and broke into tears.

To Be Continued...


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – A Long History Lesson**

It was all quiet; the medical room was filled with injured people. many were unconscious. There was a smell of dry blood and medicine in the air. Members of squad 4 could be seen frantically running around the corridors, into other rooms and areas. The injured captains and vice-captains were all put into one especially large hall with high ranking squad 4 members with them.

The sunlight was flooding into the room, it had been one day since the first skirmish, the captains and vice captains of squads three, five and seven were there getting treated (except Raven who still hadn't come back yet). Ratiasu was sitting on a chair by Ketu's bed. Her head was lying on top of him with her silver hair spread out everywhere, glistening in the sunlight. Her scarf was also lying on the bed, her arm was hanging off the bed and she was gripping her necklace tightly. Both of them were asleep.

Ratiasu had had a hard night as she had healed everyone in the room, so you really couldn't blame her for having a lie in. The other members of squad 4 had tried to heal them, but had failed. The same went for the members of all of the other squads who had been wounded. Squad 4 was able to stop the blood flow, but the cuts wouldn't close and all of them stayed unconscious (except for those who Ratiasu had healed).

Ketu had woken up twice during the night but had found Ratiasu sleeping on him so he just went back to sleep. All the vice-captains had already woken up and were lying in their beds with their eyes open waiting for someone to come and say they can go. Mayuri came in on three separate occasions, always asking the same questions about taking one of the soul reapers to do some research on their wound. Every time it took several members of squad four to push him out of their headquarters (the sight was very comical to all those who watched).

Hikari's wound was the easiest to heal, as it was only a shallow shoulder wound. She was also the first to wake up after being healed. Haruka often came by to visit her but it was hard for her because seeing as she was the only soul reaper from the three squads to not get a single scratch, many soul reapers wanted to know how she did it and what the battle was like. This time she came by and brought one of Ratiasu's coats with her, which she put onto Ratiasu back like a bed cover. Then she walked over to Hikari who was already sitting up.

'Hey are those two going to be okay?' asked Haruka nodding at Ratiasu and Ketu .

'Don't worry. I know Ket's going to be fine because Terri healed him. And Terri's just tired at the moment after healing all of us, so after a long sleep she'll be fine as well.' Hikari replied tiredly.

'So how are you doing Kari? You seem tired, shouldn't you go back to sleep?'

'No, no I'm fine. I'm just tired because I didn't sleep well last night what with Ratiasu randomly walking round and everyone else muttering and talking. It was really hard to sleep.' She yawned and stretched her arms, 'but then again you can't talk, you always look pale' she laughed.

'Ha ha, very funny, you know that this is just my normal skin colour. Anyway what are they going to do about this Usaitar then? I mean, he is just too powerful to be let off the hook.'

'Don't know, they're supposed to be having a meeting with all the captains and vice-captains but as you can see we can't go to it. I guess they'll send us a message when they've got all the details.' She looked out the window at the ever so calm Seireitei. 'I'm surprised Usaitar hasn't shown up again though, you'd think since he wanted a war he'd be taking this chance when three division are down to attack us. Well being a strategist that's what I would have done.'

'Well don't say it like that, I mean if he does attack we're all done for.' said Haruka biting her lower lip.

'Don't worry, we still have ten captains and I think that's more than enough to stop an invasion. Now, I really do need something to keep my mind off things. Hmm…'

'I knew you'd say that so I brought this,' she took out Hikari's shogi board and pieces from a bag. 'Now that you're unwell, I may have a chance at beating you.' she said placing the pieces on.

'Awww, you are so considerate Rika. But you can't beat me even if you had a million years to get better at the game.' replied Hikari.

'Fine, let's go then, I'll go first.' said Haruka. And then they played shogi, which occupied them for the whole day. They didn't even notice people coming in and out of the hall/large ward.

Rukia came by once to look for Ratiasu. 'Hey wake up, we've got a meeting now, hey.' she whispered shaking Ratiasu slightly. Hikari and Haruka were too absorbed into their game of shogi to notice this.

'Don't wake her, let her rest' said Ketu who had just suddenly opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

'Captain Zakura. It's nice to see that your better.' said Rukia bowing to Ketu who was now stroking Ratiasu's hair. 'But we need her for the meeting, well I need my vice captain to be there.'

'She's had a hard night, everyone you see in this room was healed by her I think she deserves a rest, and besides you can just tell her what the meeting's about after it right?'

'I guess you're right.' Rukia stood up and walked towards the door, 'don't let her work too hard, I need her back soon. Take care of her now.' And with that she left. Ketu stopped stroking Ratiasu's head, laid back down and fell asleep once more.

It was a while before the next visitor came, which happened to be Crystal. She walked straight to Naomi who was awake and sitting up, deep in thought at the time.

'Tell me, what happened with you and Raven? Why did he just suddenly run off? I've never seen him this mad. Actually, I've never seen him with any emotion. Tell me, what happened that made him this mad? I mean, as soon as he saw you injured he went completely berserk. I need to know this!' said Crystal urgently she was on the verge of tears.

'So is that why he isn't here' Naomi replied looking rather sad, 'I thought he'd forgotten, but obviously not.' She sighed and looked away.

'What happened, please tell me,' stressed Crystal, who seemed more determined than ever to find out.

Naomi sighed again, 'Well, I guess it's about time you knew what our past was like. After all we have been friends for a very long time.' She paused and looked out the window. 'It started in our lives in the real world before we died. I know you probably know that normal souls forget their past lives when they die, but our death was so tragic and bloody that neither raven nor I forgot. It was a sunny day like today a beautiful Saturday morning. We were watching the news that morning, it was about a serial killer who just recently just got out of jail, we obviously didn't care at the time cause people are released from jail all the time. But that day, we should have cared. Our mum and dad both were out on a day trip so it was just us two in the house at the time. We went about our business as usual that morning. We even went shopping together. But when we came back that's when it all happened. The house had been broken into, the windows were smashed tables were broken everything was a mess. We'd thought whoever did this had gone, but we were wrong. They had remained in the house waiting for us to return. The killer saw me first and shot I thought I was dead but before the bullet hit Raven jumped in the way and he died immediately after that,' she stopped tears dripping down her face. 'Then he went for me, I stood no chance, I tried to run, I tried to call for help. But the killer shot me before I could do anything. Raven's spirit disappeared. I didn't know where he went. Maybe a soul reaper had already sent him off. I realized as soon as I was dead that the person who killed us was the serial killer who was just released.' She paused and wiped her tears. 'I waited there as a spirit, I didn't know what to do I saw that the killer stayed behind as well. For hours I stayed and waited, nothing happened until when my mum and dad got home. As soon as they saw mine and Raven's dead bodies they immediately phoned the police, but they never made it on time. The killer killed our parents as soon as they put down the phone and he then fled. I couldn't watch anymore so I ran, ran as far away as possible and never looked back. Later I ran into a soul reaper who sent me here. I also wondered soul society for a few days on my own until I finally met up with Raven here. He said as soon as we met that he'd never let me hurt again, he said he'll protect me no matter what it takes he couldn't stop apologizing for letting me die when we were human, after that he hasn't had any emotions at all, I haven't seen him smile or laugh in a long, long time.' She sobbed some more and smiled weakly. 'I guess he ran off this time because he felt responsible for me getting hurt now that he has the power to stop me getting hurt. I hope he's alright, I can't stand it if something happened to him.' After that she broke down completely.

'Don't worry, I'll find him, and I'll bring him back safely. You just wait and see, I'm not a captain for nothing,' stated Crystal in a determined voice. She stood up her white haori flashed in the sunlight and she stormed out the door in a quick pace.

'Good luck. Crystal' whispered Naomi a drop of tear slid down her face.

-------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the hall of squad one a meeting has just begun. However, Hisago was nowhere to be seen so Shunsui took the 'stage'.

'Hello everyone nice of you all to come, I regret to inform that Hisaigo has disappeared. As soon as Usaitar appeared he has never been seen, also the whole of squad 1 seems to have just vanished as well. When I arrived to propose this meeting there was no one here so I decided to send for this meeting anyway because by the looks of things we may need it.' There was a lot of murmuring among all the captains and vice-captains, they weren't standing in an orderly way, they were standing anywhere they pleased, there was no order in the hall. 'I have found out some very useful information regarding Usaitar that you people need to hear, it's a shame that squads three, five and seven couldn't join us today but that's understandable. However does anyone know what happened to vice-captain of division thirteen and captain of division nine?' Rukia looks like she was about to say something but decided against it and shook her head. Everyone else seemed to have no idea what is going on, so no one answered Shunsui's question. 'Very well then, but if any one of you do see them after this meeting, please can you tell them about the meeting's contents.' He took a deep breath and carried on, 'After our first meeting about this Usaitar fellow I took it upon myself to do some research on this person so I went with Crystal to the library and what we found out was quite disturbing.' He paused and looked up and back down again. 'Usaitar has a LONG history. His first appearance was approximately six hundred years ago when he first arrived in soul society. He also had a twin sister who was with him all the time. Both of them had unusually strong abilities. I.e. his sister had incredible speed which was unmatched by any, she was and still is the fastest person in soul society.'

'Incredible speed, could it be? No it can't be… she'd be six hundred years old then, no it can't. I'm thinking too much. But could it?' thought Rukia, who was then thinking about Ratiasu.

'Usaitar had incredible power, which was also unmatched. They both entered soul society academy together and were both deemed prodigies at a very young age. One fateful day his sister was invited to join one of the four noble clans of that era. Obviously she didn't want to leave Usaitar but he urged her to go so in the end she did. Usaitar got bored, without his sister he had no one, he was always top of his classes and his classmates despised him because of that.

'How cruel, to be hated for what you are. He must have felt really lonely,' thought Soifon.

'He hated every moment he was at the academy, so he requested that he graduated earlier. They told him to do a test and obviously he passed and he came into seireitei before his sister under division thirteen. He had no friends there; he entered as a complete unknown but quickly rose to captain by slaying the original division thirteen captain. After that he became completely power hungry and spent all his time in the library, trying to find a way to make himself more powerful. He didn't even notice when his sister entered soul society, he paid no attention to her. He spent day after day in the library until he came across an old book of forbidden spells and techniques. In the book there was one spell to make your own zanpakto unbeatable. All he needed was souls, he needed to kill ten captain and vice-captain level soul reapers and a hundred other soul reapers to achieve that power. He did, he went on a massacre killing everyone he saw, and no one could stop him. It was known as 'the white massacre'. He killed all that he needed to and his power was unprecedented, after that he changed his name to 'The White Soul Reaper' because that power turned his skin completely white and he wore nothing but white after that. He continued killing, his sister tried to stop him but he stabbed her as well. She fortunately didn't die, probably because Usaitar saw who he was attacking and didn't have the heart to kill. She just stayed in squad 4 for a very long time without waking up. At the same time, Usaitar had killed almost all captains and vice-captains the only one left was the head captain. It was a fight of the ages with Usaitar being equal in strength to the head captain. The fight went on for days but in the end the head captain sacrificed himself and smashed Usaitar's sword into a thousand pieces before he died. All members of squad 1 then swarmed in and subdued him. His sword was too powerful to be destroyed so all one thousand pieces were hidden in different locations. He was banished from soul society forever. But he returned very shortly and looked for the pieces in stealth, amazingly after his five hundred years of searching he had found nine-hundred and ninety nine pieces and had already reassembled his sword, which took him ninety years to do. His sword is nearly back at full power but not quite yet and at the moment he is still beatable, but all he needs to do is find the last piece and that's the end of soul society. In ten years he has never found the last one thousandth piece, because only one person knows where it is and that was, his sister. But problem was his sister's whereabouts was unknown to him. He never found the last piece so he went to Hueco Mundo to get help to destroy soul society. He thinks by destroying it the last piece will turn up somehow. He's on the lookout once again and invading soul society with his army, if we are to stop him it must be now otherwise if he finds his sister and the last piece that's the end.' As soon as he said those last words, the hall was filled with an extremely powerful spirit pressure and someone blasted the door open and walked in.

It was Usaitar and his high-pitched laughter again. 'You don't know how right you are. And when I'm through with you lot there won't be anything left,' he laughed.

**To Be Continued...**

**Chpater 5 will be up on saturday**


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – The 13 Divisions Defeated?**

The dust slowly cleared away, it was only Usaitar who stood at the gate, on his own.

'Attacking alone? Do you want to die?' asked Byakuya in a mockingly calm tone.

'Ha, there's only fifteen of you, seven captains and eight vice-captains, it's not even a challenge compared to other fights I've been in.'

'You monster, do you realize how badly you have hurt Terri's feelings.' shouted Rukia who was to his right.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' said Usaitar looking the other way away from her.

'I'll teach you to look at me when I'm talking to you. Dance, Sode no Shiroyuki.' She span round in a circle, 'first dance, white moon,' a circle of ice engulfed Usaitar. 'Got you.'

'Oh really?' sneered Usaitar, and he instantly appeared right behind Rukia and slashed once. She went flying into the air, her back was badly cut. Byakuya reacted fast and caught her, 'Scatter, Senbonzakura.' The blades didn't even make it to Usaitar before he flash stepped behind Byakuya and stabbed straight through his back. Byakuya coughed and blood splattered onto the floor.

'Captain!' shouted Renji who faced Usaitar, 'You'll pay for that. Howl, Zabimaru.' Before the transformation of his sword could complete Usaitar had already flash stepped past Renji and slashed him across the shoulder, blood sprayed out everywhere and he collapsed.

'How pathetic, such weaklings thinking they'd stand a chance against me? Hmm… I think this place is a bit crowded don't you all agree? I think we should clear up some space.' He pulled out his sword, 'Obliterate'. The wave of spiritual pressure smashed against the walls and everything collapsed around him. The room was instantly turned into a pile of rubble

'Guess Shunsui wasn't kidding, this guy is strong' thought Hitsugaya jumping out of the way of a large falling rock.

'Now where were we, oh yes, I was about to kill you all.' He laughed and charged at Unohana. Isane instantly jumped in the way.

'Run –'she had no time to finish as a sword came out from behind her and pierced through her back. Unohana didn't even think, she grabbed Isane and flash stepped back to squad four immediately.

'Ha, so is that it? You're just going to run off?' as he was saying those words Shunsui grabbed Byakuya, Renji and Rukia (with the help of Nanao) and flash stepped after Unohana without Usaitar noticing. All remaining captains nodded at their vice-captains telling to attack.

'Oh what's this? A bunch of weaklings. You stand no chance.' To be fair they didn't stand a chance, he instantly vanished and took out Shuhei with one stab, he fell and blood poured out everywhere. Both Nemu and Marechiyo accidentally looked down at Shuhei and their moment of distraction was enough for Usaitar to slash both of them in quick succession. They both fell down beside Shuhei and lost consciousness.

Rangiku got there, 'Growl Haineko,' the blade disappeared and a cloud of dust appeared above Usaitar's head and it crashed down on him. Usaitar stood there, didn't move took the attack and after it, it was as if nothing has happened.

'Is that all you've got? I've met gnats who are stronger than you.'

'Grrrr….' She called the cloud back but before she could, her side was slashed across when Usaitar flash stepped past her.

'Mastumoto,' shouted Histugaya who jumped up grabbed her, landed smoothly and lay her down. 'I'll kill you.'

'Ha, just how many times have I heard that before? You're just a kid though, what can you hope to do against the mighty White Soul Reaper' he laughed in a mocking tone. His voice echoed throughout the collapsed building.

'Just a kid? I'll show you what a kid can do. BANKAI. DAIGUREN HYORINMARU.' His hand turned to ice with his sword, two ice wings sprouted from his back. The three flowers appeared behind him as well. He firstly launched himself into the sky and lunged at Usaitar who finally used his sword and blocked it. As soon as he did his sword and hands went completely engulfed in ice.

'Ah, that's a nice ability you have there,' said Usaitar still smiling calmly.

'You haven't seen anything yet,' Toshiro jumped back pointed his sword towards Usaitar, 'Thousand Years Ice Prison' ice pillars shot up and surrounded Usaitar, Toshiro's sword guard turned and the ice pillars enveloped Usaitar. 'That did it.'

'I don't think so' said Usaitar his voice sounded normal in that massive block of ice. A wave of spiritual pressure exploded from inside the ice, which blasted the ice to pieces.

'No way,' Toshiro let his guard down for a second and that's all it took for Usaitar to gain the advantage and flash step in front of him and slashed him straight across the chest. He fell down beside Rangiku blood spraying from where he was cut. He tried to get up, but fell back down.

'Well, well looks like your pretty tough, seems like a good fight to me,' said Kenpachi, licking his lips. He charged, and pulled out his blade and slashed down at Usaitar who blocked it instantly. They both flash stepped upwards and swapped blows again.

'Ha, it's been a while since I met someone who had a bit of force behind his attacks' said Usaitar calmly after blocking another attack.

'Ha ha ha ha, your not bad yourself.' shouted Kenpachi over the sound of the blades. Mayuri watched from afar he hasn't moved or said anything at all since Usaitar's surprising appearance. Kenpachi and Usaitar speeded up their attacks and swapped hits faster than the eye can see. They were barely visible in one place before they both flash stepped to another place. Minutes pass and no one seems to be winning.

'You've fought well, but I think it's time to end this.' shouted Kenpachi. He took off his eye patch and released all of his stored spiritual pressure at once into a final attack. Usaitar just barely was able to raise his sword to block but was blasted back down to earth when blocked and a massive amount of spiritual pressure smashed into him.

'Well, that wasn't too hard,' said Kenpachi landing by Mayuri after seeing that Usaitar hasn't moved.

'Looks like I didn't even need to be here,' said Mayuri who turned his back, 'come and get off the floor Nemu, I got some research to do.' As soon as he walked one step forward a huge wave of spiritual pressure came out from behind him.

'Where are you going? I haven't finished yet.' Usaitar was already standing up again. He raised his sword that had just turned into a voulge. He spun it round and shouted 'DESTRUCTION OF PARADISE.' A massive amount of spiritual pressure blasted Kenpachi off his feet and straight into a wall, which he smashed into with a sickening crunch, blood leaked out of his mouth, but before he hit the ground, Yachiru sprang out of nowhere grabbed him and ran for it.

Toshiro just woke up, but couldn't get up because the spiritual pressure was too large for him to withstand, he used his ice wings (which miraculously stayed on even when he was unconscious) and shielded himself and Rangiku from the pressure, grabbed her and ran as well.

'Urrr, what's with this guy?' Mayuri raised his hand in defense of the spiritual pressure, which was growing more powerful with every second. 'I'm going to get crushed at this rate; I need to release my Bankai.' Which he did, but his giant caterpillar didn't stand a chance with this much spirit pressure and was instantly destroyed.

'No oversized insect can stop me, ha ha ha' Usaitar screamed in triumph.

'Arrgghhh, I've got no choice.' Mayuri turned his sword against himself and stabbed. He also he stabbed Nemu. He and Nemu instantly turned to liquid. 'I'll be back, Usaitar, just wait and see. Come Nemu.' Both of them squeezed through some cracks in the rocks and disappeared.

'Hmph, well that was easy, I must say though, those three captains who faced me yesterday was better than all this lot put together.' He walked over to the three unconscious bodies of Soifon, Shuhei and Marechiyo. 'Tsk, only got three, the rest are lucky they escaped. Well, guess three'll be alright for now then. But before I go, I'll just finish what I started.' He clicked his fingers, a big gate from Hueco Mundo opened up, hundreds of hollows swarmed in, more came after that and they didn't stop. Soon there were hollows everywhere in soul society and even then they still kept coming. 'It looks like my work is done, for the moment anyway. I sense someone is about to confront me, hmm, well I had better get ready to kill him.' He grabbed the three bodies and disappeared with them.

-------------------------------

The main emergency room of squad four has moved to an underground base sort of thing. Everyone ran for cover as soon as they saw the thousands of hollows approaching. Many people were left because they couldn't save them as the hollows went straight for squad four and destroyed all the buildings. All the captains and vice-captains made it but many of the other soul reapers who were still unconscious didn't. Everyone was healed by Ratiasu as they arrived. Now she's being recovered by other squad four members giving her more energy as she sleeps. It has been two days and everyone was up and walking about to think of the next move

'She'll be alright won't she?' asked Ketu standing by Ratiasu's bed looking nervous and tired as he hasn't had much sleep in the last few days.

'Don't worry, all she now needs is a good nights sleep.' said one of the squad four members who was looking after her. 'I'm surprised she didn't join squad four. With that kind of healing power she could easily made it as captain here. You should get some rest too, don't wear yourself out too much.' Ketu just smiled, pulled up a chair and sat down.

'Hey, your lucky to have her Ket, you don't know how lucky of a man you are,' said Haruka who walked by. She went over to Hikari who was sitting there deep in thought. 'Hey Kari, since there's nothing else to do here want a game of Shogi?'

'Hmph, I thought you'd never ask,' she smiled breaking out of her thought. And immediately they were off again with their usual game of Shogi!

'Tsk, playing games at a time like this? It's not the best of ideas is it?' said Renji looking at them. They just pretended not to hear him and carried on with their game.

Rukia went to sit by Ketu and put a hand on his shoulder, 'Don't worry, she'll be fine, we all owe her. I'm sure she'll be better tomorrow,' she said comforting Ketu.

'Thanks,' Ketu stroked Ratiasu's hair and held her hand. 'Did you hear that? You're going to be just fine.' After that he stayed there for the rest of the day.

Nothing much happened during that day, just a few soul reapers were able to make it to the underground base. There was no sign of Raven or Crystal. Naomi was worried so much that she decided to sneak out and look for them. Surprisingly no one saw her as she left, but as soon as she got out; she knew it was a bad idea. The entire seireitei region was swarming with hollows of all shapes and sizes, flying over the skies crawling around the streets. She was instantly spotted by a few hollows and they advanced on her, she had a sudden thought of going back. But her love for her brother pushed her on and she flash stepped away avoiding the hollows in search for Raven.

A day passed and they were still stuck there underground with nowhere to go. Everyone had been very quiet recently and not done much either. Though everyone seemed very tense.

'This is boring, I want some action, can't we just go and kill all of the hollows, that'd be easier won't it? It's not like we can't handle a few weak hollows now is it?' said Kenpachi breaking the silence, who was getting extremely restless.

'Yeah you tell 'em Kenny,' said Yachiru who was jumping up and down by Kenpachi

'Do you want to die? If we just charge out there with no strategy, we'll be killed.' said

Hikari stopping by him. She had been pacing around the room since she woke up.

'Tsk, who needs strategy when you have power.'

'If you want to go out and die like a dog be my guest, just don't expect us to be pulling you back and saving you,' said Byakuya but with a insulting yet calm tone.

'Hey no one asked you to butt in.' said Kenpachi raising his voice.

'Would you guys keep it down, Terri's still asleep here.' shouted Ketu irritably over the both of them. After he finished, Ratiasu blinked a few times and opened her eyes. 'Oh, your awake, how are you feeling?'

She opened her eyes wider and smiled at Ketu, 'Fine. I'm feeling better, still a tiny bit tired though.' She sat up, realized she was wearing a dressing gown and looked around, 'Where's my clothes.'

'Here,' said Ketu grabbing her clothes from behind his chair and giving them to her. He turned around to look at everyone else, 'Ahem,' he coughed sarcastically. Everyone else except a few of the girls either walked out of the medium sized room or turned around to face the other way. A few minutes later Ratiasu was dressed and standing up looking better than ever.

'Good to have your back Terri' beamed Hikari walking to her and giving her a pat on the back.

'Yeah, we missed you,' agreed Haruka happily.

'Enough with the mushy stuff, what do you guys propose we do then?' asked Kenpachi. Hikari turned around to him and was about to answer him when all of a sudden, a wave of spiritual energy hit the room.

'This spiritual pressure, its Captain Ruhodesu,' whispered Izuru, everyone hears him but they had already recognized it before he said anything. Then a second bigger wave of spiritual pressure came as well and after a few minutes of waiting. Raven's spiritual energy faded.

'Oh no, could Raven be-' started Izuru.

'Don't think like that, I'm sure he's fine' interrupted Haruka although her voice sounded unsure.

'Meh, who cares it's his fault if he gets hurt' said Ketu but one look at Ratiasu's worried face he said, 'but still, we can't lose another captain, not at this time. Come on, I we should go look for him.' He stood up and walked to the door.

'Hey I'm coming, I ain't letting you have all the fun,' said Kenpachi, but he was stopped by Unohana.

'Your wounds haven't healed yet, and it would be unwise to all go at once, after all too many of us will make an easy target for Hollows.'

'Grrrr… that's no fun,' snapped Kenpachi, but he knew when he was defeated and sat down again frustrated.

'Me and Haruka will go with him' said Hikari standing up with Haruka behind her. They followed Ketu, who had already left.

'No Ket, don't leave without me,' shouted Ratiasu, who started running after them.

'No. Stop you still haven't recovered yet, you need your rest,' said Unohana standing in her way. But Ratiasu instantly flash stepped past her and Unohana didn't stand a chance with her speed.

'Let her go, we knew she wouldn't be able to stay if Ketu left.' said Rukia though she sounded as if she wished it was untrue.

'Guess you're right,' sighed Unohana sitting down again.

Outside Ratiasu met up with her three friends.

'You shouldn't have come Terri, you might get hurt,' said Ketu looking worried but happy at the same time.

'Don't worry, I've still got my speed, none of the hollows will be able to catch up, I'll be fine,' reassured Ratiasu. Ketu still looked worried but he said no more. They walked around for a bit slaying any hollow they saw and went towards the direction of which was Raven's spiritual energy came from which was in the direction of Sokyoku hill. They were still quite some distance from the bottom of the hill when two more large waves of spiritual pressure hit them.

'This spiritual pressure, it belongs to Naomi and Crystal's, come on we've got to hurry.' shouted Hikari. They flash stepped as fast as they could up the stairs, made it to the forest at one end of the hill in less than a minute. They were now able to sense Naomi and Crystal's spiritual pressure more clearly, which both was growing every second. However, before they could cross the forest they saw a bright flash of blue light from the other side of the forest and both Naomi and Crystal's spiritual pressure vanished instantly. The four of them quickly made it to the other side of the forest only to witness Raven, Naomi and Crystal covered in blood, lying face-down on the floor and looked as they had passed out. Usaitar was a few meters away from them. He stood there smiling and slowly walked towards the three unconscious people.

'Don't take another step,' shouted Ketu as he flash stepped between Usaitar and the three unconscious people. 'I may not like Raven. But still he is a captain of the thirteen squads, he is a colleague and comrade, and I will not have someone hurt a comrade of mine.'

The other three of them immediately flash stepped by Ketu between Usaitar and the three on the ground.

'I'll take them to somewhere safe,' said Haruka who grabbed Raven, Naomi, Crystal. She nodded towards Usaitar, 'Take him down guys and good luck', she flash stepped away with three bodies on her shoulder. 'Take care' she whispered the second before she flash stepped away.

'This is the end for you Usaitar, you've had your fun now you're going to die.' shouted Ketu menacingly.

'Ohh I'm shaking, take a look in the mirror, you're just like a lost puppy, you're weak and I can't get rid of you because you keep dodging me, but now that you have challenged me. I think it would be unhonourable for me to take it easy. So here's a warning, I'm going all out so if you want to run I suggest you get going nowm ' said Usaitar calmly.

'I'm not going to run and I'll make you regret those words. I'll make you regret that you were ever born, I'll make you regret ever coming here. I'll make you regret hurting my friends.'

'Are you done ranting? If you're ready I'd love to get started' said Usaitar, holding his voulge in front of him.

'Come on girls, we'll cut him to shreds.' said Ketu, pointing his sword at Usaitar.

'Two girls and a weakling, this shouldn't take long. But I must admit, that silver haired girl looks cute, I'd love to stick my sword through her throat and slice her to bits.' said Usaitar, going a bit too far with his insulting.

'YOU'VE JUST CROSSED THE LINE YOU FREAK. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.' He held out his sword, Ratiasu and Hikari followed. A wave coloured of spiritual pressure erupted from all three of them, (Ratiasu – vermillion, Hikari – pink and Ketu – viridian.).

All of them shouted together at the same time. 'BANKAI'

**To be continued...** (**I hope to have the next chp up by either wednesday or thursday)**


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – The Fallen Angel ****(Note: this starts a day after Raven freaks out and leaves, so it's around the middle of chapter four)**

Raven was calming down by a plum tree, the first flowers were blossoming and a petal fell on his clothes. It had been an entire day since he ran off after freaking out and he still had no idea where Usaitar was. He has calmed down a bit, but still wasn't thinking straight and was relaxing by a plum tree. He didn't know what to do next, he was confused, he wanted to go back and see if Naomi is alright or not, but also he didn't want to go back having done nothing at all. He's been wandering aimlessly around the outskirts of seireitei and around many poor residential areas. All windows were closed; it was like a ghost town everywhere he went. However, he didn't notice any of that, his mind was blank and he couldn't think.

He walked and walked for hours, the day was still young, and a light chilling breeze blew. The sun was shining down warm and happy, but he was feeling unusually cold and upset. He grew tired eventually so he stopped by a tree, sat down next to it and feel asleep.

He had a dream, he was lost, he was alone and still he didn't know what to do.

'What should I do?' he asked himself standing alone in his dream in an empty dark void that was his heart.

'You should do what you think is right,' suddenly said another voice inside him.

He was surprised at first, but he felt like he knew the voice, so he asked, 'but how do I know what's right and what's wrong? I've made so many mistakes in the past, made promises I failed to keep and most importantly I was unable to protect my sister. I don't know what's right anymore.' He still felt almost like a fool talking to a voice in a dream, but he knew that it had the answers for him.

'Mistakes can be forgiven, injuries can be healed. However, if one's feelings are hurt it will take more than an apology to heal.' The voice paused while Raven was thinking of what this meant.

'Wait, are you talking about Crystal?' asked Raven now feeling worse.

'Yes indeed, deep down inside you know like her. And I can tell that she loves you too. But you have always turned a blind eye and pushed her away, why is that?'

'I… because I had things to do, I didn't have time for her' said Raven now looking sad, hanging his head.

'And where did that work get you? You've failed to protect your sister, and you've hurt Crystal far beyond an apology.

'I… I….' Raven couldn't speak, he realized that the voice was right, and he couldn't come up with an argument.

'No one truly knows what the right way is,' the voice went on, 'but as long as you know what yours is then you can't go wrong, and I think you know what the right way is for you.'

'Yes, I know' said Raven, the look of realisation on his face.

'You need to heal a broken heart, but before that, I think you want to make sure that you sister will be safe.' said the voice in a commanding way.

'Thank you,' said Raven bowing though not entirely sure who to.

'Don't thank me. Thank yourself. After all I am a part of you.' Raven jerked up and saw that he was still sitting by the plum tree. He noticed Hollows were flying and jumping about everywhere inside seireitei. He stood up and saw that two little kids were backed into the corner by a large hollow. Raven pulled out his sword and flash stepped behind the hollow and sliced it in half down the middle.

Their mother came running out of no where towards them shouting their names. 'Hiragi, Kyo, are you two alright?' she asked desperately.

'We're fine now,' both of the kids said. Raven was in deep thought again after seeing a happy family reunited.

The mother turned around and said, 'thank you so much, Mister, er….'

'Ruhodesu, Raven Ruhodesu. But please don't thank me, I was just doing the right thing. Stay safe now, go hide somewhere I have a feeling there's going to be more hollows coming.' said Raven in a serious way. The mother took both children and went the other way after thanking him again.

The kid called Kyo turned around and shouted in a very disturbingly low and serious tone, 'Be careful Raven, you now walk a dangerous route.' Raven stared after him in disbelief, mouth wide open.

'So Raven, are you ready?' asked the voice inside him.

'Yes, I finally am.' Raven sheathed his sword and looked up to the sky, 'I know what I have to do.' He flash stepped away back to his house.

It wasn't easy getting there though, hollows were everywhere he went, he had killed more than a dozen hollows before reaching his house. He regretted going in because everyone was dead. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, ground and even on the ceilings. He made his way quickly to the central hall slaying a few hollows that got in his way. He arrived at the hall a few minutes later after being hindered by a few hollows. Two of his servants lay face down on the ground in the hall a pool of blood underneath them. Raven closed his eyes and shook his head. He went straight to his sword rack (which doesn't have a sword on it) lifted it up to reveal a small secret compartment and took out Shinso.

'Time to put you to good use,' he thought. 'Ichimaru may never be able rectify his sins, but if you and I killed Usaitar you can have a new start.' He tucked the sword into his waist and he set off.

He flash stepped around a bit, but saw no sign of Usaitar, all he saw was hollows and more hollows. A few hollows killed and still no sign of him.

'Geez, just how many hollows are there' thought Raven after slashing down about thirty of hollows. 'There's just no end. Usaitar must be behind this.' He flash stepped roof after roof until he heard a few people talking.

'Hey did you guys hear? All the captains and vice-captains have all disappeared, it was after that meeting they had.' said on person.

'Really, what happened?' asked another person.

'I don't know the details I can tell you all that I saw. And what I saw was Usaitar walking into the meeting alone, a few minutes later the whole building collapsed but at that time I could definitely see the captains still there.'

'So what happened to them then?'

'I don't know, a wave of spiritual energy hit me and I collapsed.'

'Oh you're useless.'

'Although when I regained consciousness I saw Usaitar flying in the way of Sokyoku Hill.' And that's all he said before three hollows approached them.

'Sokyoku Hill eh? Sounds like a fitting place to end Usaitar.' thought Raven making his way as fast as he could to Sokyoku Hill.

On his way there he was spotted by Ikkaku and Yumichika.

'Hello there Captain Ruhodesu, a bit late to be out on a stroll isn't it? So where are you going?' asked Yumichika.

'What's it to you' said Raven stopping for a short moment.

'Well, to be fair, nothing. But during these chaotic times, it is very suspicious that you are sneaking around.'

'Whatever,' Raven was about to move on, until Ikkaku spoke.

'I know you Raven, and I know what you're thinking. So, planning to take on Usaitar all on your own? Are you sure you're ready for that?' asked Ikkaku.

'I'm ready as I'll ever be.' and he gave them a glance of his two swords. 'He's going to pay for all that he's done.'

'Wait a minute, did I just see, was that Shinso?' asked Yumichika with a shocked face. He didn't get an answer because Raven instantly flash stepped away.

It took him a while to get to the hill, all kinds of hollows stood in his way, but he killed everything that was blocking him, and soon he was standing on Sokyoku Hill waiting.

'Ah so you finally showed up, what took you so long?' asked a voice behind him. It was Usaitar. 'I knew you'd come after me, and I've been waiting.'

'You seem to be quite full of yourself.' said Raven calmly, he moved backwards until he and Usaitar had some distance.

'Why shouldn't I be? I've beaten you before and I'll do it again.' He reached into his clothes and pulled out his sword.

'Don't underestimate me. I came for one thing and one thing only - YOUR HEAD.' A circle of dark purple spiritual pressure surrounded Raven. 'Time to take you down, Usaitar. BANKAI.' The spiritual energy exploded with a huge bang. The sword extended and turned into a large scythe, much larger than the shikai form. The sky darkened, five black feathers appeared on the handle's end. Black wings sprouted from Raven's back. 'Kurohane Kujotenshi. Now prepare yourself, for you are going to die.'

'Ohhhhh bankai, I'm shaking now,' said Usaitar sarcastically. 'Obliterate' and again his sword turned into that voulge. 'Shall we get started?'

'After you,' said Raven. They both vanished and appeared in the middle in a sword deadlock. They vanished again and appeared to the left. Then again, this time in another place. Each time they locked blades small waves of spiritual pressure spread out from their blades. Raven jumped backwards and fired off a few fast kido attacks from his scythe. The black kido blades approached Usaitar but were easily parried away by him. Raven kept firing continuously causing Usaitar to run around to dodge them.

He jumped to dodge one of the blades. Raven stopped and fired a more powerful blade. Usaitar spun round in mid air and shouted, 'DESTRUCTION OF PARADISE.' And a yellow wave of energy sot towards Raven from his voulge. The two attacks crashed in mid-air with a massive explosion and both Raven and Usaitar was blown backwards. Raven took this opening and instantly flash stepped behind Usaitar's back and planted a feather on his back.

'What is the meaning of this?' said surprisingly as he tried to grab the feather but he couldn't even touch it.

'It's no use trying to get it off cause it'll stay on you for the duration of this fight and it's impossible to take it off. And as a bonus, if I get all five of my feathers on you, you will be permanently deleted from existence.' Raven smirked and laughed.

'Well, that's never going to happen. I'll kill you before you get them on me,' said Usaitar although his voice didn't sound so convincing. He charged at Raven. Raven was getting ready to block but Usaitar flash stepped behind Raven the moment he was about to hit and slashed. Raven knew the attack was coming and was easily able to flash step some distance away before the blade landed. He flash stepped to the side of Usaitar and swung his scythe, Usaitar was just able to manage to block it. But because Raven has missed so much that Kujotenshi's power has grown to an alarming height and he was able to overpower Usaitar, cut him on the arm and also was able to stick another feather on him.

'What's this? Your power wasn't this high when we started.' shouted Usaitar who jumped back.

'Well well, looks like you have just witnessed another power of Kurohane Kujotenshi. You see every time an attack of mine gets blocked or misses then my power increases by two fifths. And at my count I've missed quite a lot.' said Raven who had a very wide smile on his face.

'You think you're good huh? Well let me tell you, I'm only using one tenth of my overall strength, but now that you seem to get more powerful after every hit, I guess I should use all my power to crush you.' Usaitar's spiritual pressure suddenly went up by five folds. 'I can't release all of my spiritual pressure at once, but still this is more than enough to kill you.'

The next second, Raven was kneeing down on the floor, blood pouring from his shoulder. 'What just happened?' he coughed out a load of blood.

'That was my power when I've reached to half full, I'm able to reach incredible speeds and as you just saw slice you with that speed.' said Usaitar who stood by him, his voulge in his hand above Raven. 'This is the end for you.'

'I don't think so.' He secretly pulls out Shinso, 'Shoot 'em Dead, Shinso,' the blade extended out from underneath Raven's clothes, pierces them and shoots at Usaitar. Usaitar who was taken by complete surprise didn't have time to dodge and his waist was cut clean through.

'What's this, another blade?' shouted a startled Usaitar falling backwards. Raven took this opening and hastily put another feather on Usaitar.

'That's three,' said Raven grabbing his own shoulder which was still in pain. He used his wings and flew back up into the sky with Usaitar tailing behind.

'Where did you get that?' asked Usaitar looking intrigued.

'That's none of your business.' Hep ulled the blade back and thrusted it forwards, 'Shoot 'em Dead, Shinso.' The blade extended again but this time Usaitar was ready and he dodged the attack. But he wasn't ready when Raven suddenly flash stepped in front of him and slashed once again with his scythe. He made a clean hit and strikes Usaitar straight in the chest, blood burst out of his chest. Raven took the opening once more and got the fourth feather onto Usaitar.

'Dammit,' screamed Usaitar who fell down and hit the ground hard. Raven was breathing heavily, he ignored the pain in his shoulder and carried on attacking. Usaitar just managed to get up and dodge the attacks. Raven landed on the ground unable to carry on flying.

'It looks like we're both at our limits. But still, I have more power remaining than you.' said Usaitar panting and kneeing on one knee.

Raven shot a kido attack, which Usaitar dodged easily. At that moment Raven put all of his spiritual power into one final attack and launched himself at Usaitar. Usaitar blocked but that wasn't the aim of Raven's attack, he took his last chance and was just about to put on the last feather before-

'Not this time.' Usaitar screamed out. He released all of his spiritual pressure at once and easily blew Raven away. Usaitar went after him and as soon as Raven stopped flying and landed Usaitar stabbed down with his voulge straight through Raven's chest. Raven screamed in pain. 'Time to show you the power of my voulge' he stood there, and then spiritual energy from Raven were absorbed into Usaitar completely healing him. 'You see, I can take energy from anyone I defeat and heal myself.' Then Raven lay still on the ground and didn't move.

'Heh, that was close. You nearly had me, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.' He smirked and walked away.

'RAVEN NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,' a horrified scream came from the edge of the forest. It was Crystal and Naomi, they ran up to Raven, Usaitar backed away and watched from a distance.

'Raven please be alright, don't die on me here,' cried Crystal tears were surging down her face. Naomi didn't speak, she just kneed by him and cried. 'You can't die here, please don't. I've never told you this before, but maybe it's about time I did.' She wiped her tears and tried to stop crying. 'I love you Raven.' And she broke down and cried and cried on Raven's chest.

'Crystal, please don't cry,' whispered Raven just barely able to get the words out.

'Rae?' She looked up and saw that Raven had his eyes open. 'You're going to be alright, right?' sobbed Crystal.

'I will be.' He then turned his head towards Naomi. 'Sis, I'm sorry, I failed you again.'

'No, you didn't fail me; you've never failed me, I've always been glad to have a brother like you,' wept Naomi, 'save your strength you need it to survive.'

'My strength was always for you.' Naomi looked away and cried. Raven turned back to Crystal. 'I'm sorry Crystal; sorry I've always ignored you. Will you ever forgive me?'

'Of… of course Rae, I've love you too much to stay mad at you.'

'Thank you. You know, deep down, I really like you too,' and those were his last words before he closed his eyes and fell unconscious again. Crystal cried harder than ever, her head over Raven and her blonde hair flowing on his body, blown lightly by the wind, shining in the sunlight.

'How very touching, but I'm afraid I'll have to break up this reunion.' Usaitar finally started talking. He slowly walked over to them.

'You, you did this didn't you,' shouted Crystal with an accusing face.

'Hmph, I don't deny it,' said Usaitar still walking calmly towards them.

'How could you be so cruel?' asked Naomi.

'I never said I was kind, I lost my sense of kindness long ago.'

'You're going to pay for this,' said both Crystal and Naomi. Then they both drew out their swords and shouted, 'BANKAI'

'Shirohane Youshatenshi,' said Crystal. Crystal's sword split into two axes which Crystal held in both hands and grew white wings.

'Kozumikkukouken Seireitenshi,' said Naomi. Naomi's sword extended into a big bardiche. Neither of them had a plan they charged blindly and attacked Usaitar.

'My, my. You two are hasty aren't you?' said Usaitar easily dodging the attacks. Crystal and Naomi both jumped back to their original places

'SHUT YOUR FACE, YOU BASTARD,' screamed Crystal.

'You really shouldn't use such strong words, they make you seem weak.' said Usaitar with a smug look on his face.

'DIE,' Crystal charged at Usaitar again.

'Wait, Crystal, don't be too hasty,' shouted Naomi warningly after her. But she was too late, before Crystal could hit Usaitar relinquished his voulge and pierced Crystal straight through the chest. She, inch by inch looked down at the blade that was stuck in the chest with shocked eyes. He pulled it out and kicked Crystal who flew up and landed right by Raven, her axes have turned back into her original sword and her wings have disappeared. Blood gushed out of her chest and she also coughed up a lot of blood.

'I'm sorry Rae,' she whispered trying to crawl to Raven but fainted before she could reach him.

'NO, NOT YOU TOO,' screamed Naomi. However, she didn't dare lower her weapon or move even an inch.

'Two down one more to go,' said Usaitar gleaming, he disappeared instantly, reappeared in front of Naomi, and attacked. Naomi barely had time to block and was cut lightlyon the shoulder. She moved backwards slightly and launched her attack. Usaitar was again easily able to dodge.

'Dammit, my bankai isn't strong enough yet,' thought Naomi trying to fend off some very fast attacks by Usaitar.

'You're quite slow, I must say,' he vanished again appearing behind Naomi and sent a wave of spiritual pressure at her. Naomi didn't have time to move out of the way and was blasted away with a massive cut on her back. She tried to stand up but couldn't and kneed down on the floor.

'Don't bother getting back up, I can see that you don't have the strength to carry on.' said Usaitar walking slowly to Naomi. She was choking on massive amounts of blood but still managed to get up and launch a surprise attack on Usaitar.

'How foolish,' whispered Usaitar to himself who saw this coming and held his voulge out just before Naomi hit. She landed straight on the voulge, which penetrated straight through her stomach. Blood gushed out and splattered on the floor. Usaitar then threw her to where Crystal and Raven was lying. She landed next to Raven.

She used her last ounce of strength to hold Raven's hand, 'I'm sorry, Raven. Looks like I wasn't strong enough after all,' and she also fainted after that.

'What a bunch of weaklings,' said Usaitar, 'I didn't even get a scratch so I guess I'll just leave them, though I will deliver them to him.' He walked to retrieve the three bodies when Ketu, Ratiasu, Haruka and Hikari arrived. After a while of talk (at the end of chapter five), which involves Haruka carrying Raven, Crystal and Naomi away.

The three that are left Ratiasu, Ketu and Hikari, all shouted.

'BANKAI'

**To Be Continued… (Monday next week… I think)**


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – The Rose and Two Dragons**

Hikari's spiritual pressure exploded, her sword shattered into thousands of pieces. Each piece extended to about twenty centimetres in length, changed to a red colour and flew right above her in perfect layers like a wall of blades. 'Gosai rozehana.'

Ketu again threw his sword up into the air, which disappeared; the dragon appeared once again. Only this time it was much larger and the dragon actually took the shape of a dragon not just the head. The wings flapped heavily sending small shockwaves at the ground and the tailed whipped about. Ketu pointed his hand at Usaitar and the dragon roared ready to get revenge. 'Kazetatsujin.'

Ratiasu's spiritual pressure flashed twice and then she absorbed them. This caused two massive dragon wings to grow from her back but her sword takes on no visible change. 'Doragonkisakisumiyaka.'

'Well, well, looks like I've got two dragons and a rose against me, this shouldn't take too long,' said Usaitar, voice full of confidence. He then looked at Ratiasu, 'By the way, you know, that sword of yours hasn't changed a bit, what kind of crap bankai is that meant to be?' he mocked.

'Crap? Ha, don't underestimate me.' She disappeared and a fraction of a second later appeared behind Usaitar during which time she had slashed him across the back, and then instantly flash stepped back to where she was. She smiled gleefully 'Do you call that crap?'

Usaitar touched his back and felt the cut. 'I see, so you absorbed all that spiritual pressure and condensed it. Thus giving you incredible speed, hmm… You remind me of someone, but I can't quite remember who though. Ah well never mind, I'm going to kill you all anyway.'

'Hey enough chitchat, prepare to die.' Ketu moved his hand in the direction of Usaitar and the dragon above him instinctively followed the hand direction and charged at Usaitar. He quickly drew his sword and attempted to block but the dragon just split in two and carried on charging. The wind was too strong and blew Usaitar off his feet who crashed into a tree behind him.

Usaitar got up and wiped his lips which had a trickle of blood on it, 'Huh, not bad I see you have mastered your bankai pretty well. The wind is a good partner to have,' he said, and flash stepped back to where he was, 'But even the wind will have its limits.' He vanished and went for a sneak attack behind Ketu but was blocked by Ratiasu who appeared instantly behind him.

Hikari turned round and shouted, 'HANAYAIBA,' and many of the blades above her shot with amazing speed at Usaitar who flash stepped out the way.

'Ha ha don't hit your own team mate,' laughed Usaitar seeing that the blades were going to fly into Ratiasu and Ketu.

'I'm not evil,' said Hikari smiling, she raised her hand and moved it in the direction of where Usaitar had flash stepped to. The blades stopped just before they hit Ketu and Ratiasu, redirected and shot at Usaitar once more. Usaitar had no time to dodge, the blades smashed into him with an explosion.

Ratiasu flash stepped in front of the explosion and chanted, 'One thousand years of the world, words that were never spoken, carried away by silver wings. Time will never pass, but the white dragon flies at midnight, the blue eyes will shine and the moon will be silenced. Wave of destruction, number one: white thunder.' A bright wave of lightning that was much larger than pale lightning (hado four) shot out from her hands and fired straight at where the explosion was. Another big crash sounded and a shockwave of spiritual pressure was produced.

'Did we get him?' asked Ketu staring into the dust cloud for any signs of movement.

'Ha ha ha, that? Get me? How foolish of you?' the dust had cleared, Usaitar was still standing but his clothes were a bit torn and there were a few drops of blood by his lips. 'Though I must say, those blades didn't hurt much but that kido attack sure did have some power behind it.' He turned and looked at Ratiasu, 'I've never seen that kido spell before. Where did you learn it?'

'I made it myself, you're lucky you survived that attack. Let me show you another one of my abilities,' she raised her sword and pointed behind her, 'Snap, Tobiume.' The sword turned into Hinamori's shikai form. Red (vermillion obviously) spiritual energy gathered on the blade and Ratiasu swung it at Usaitar. The energy ball rushed towards Usaitar and smashed into him as he was taken completely by surprise.

The dust cleared once again, 'What was that? You can change your sword into others?'

'Now you're catching on,' smiled Ratiasu, her sword was back to normal now.

'Hmm… even so, that didn't have much power behind it, but sti-.' He didn't get to finish as a massive gust of air blew at him, he jumped and flash stepped upwards to dodge.

'Don't leave us two out of the fight, I promised I'd kill you so DON'T IGNORE ME,' Ketu moved his hand up and the dragon of wind followed.

'Hmph, I can dodge that stupid wind of yours pretty easily,' said Usaitar.

'But you can't dodge me,' whispered Ratiasu appearing behind him (she had just rode the wind which increased her speed) and slashed him in the back again, the wind then engulfed him and made him crash back down to earth. Hikari took this opportunity and shot her blades at Usaitar again. Another explosion at where it hit. But before the blades finished hitting there was a booming roar and an extremely large spiritual pressure expanded from where Usaitar was, blasting the dust away.

'What the,' started Hikari but she didn't get to finish because Usaitar was already on top of her and he instantly stabbed down with his voulge (it turned when he was getting hit). Ratiasu flash stepped as soon as she saw what was happening and pushed Hikari out the way. The voulge missed Hikari but slashed Ratiasu on her arm.

'TERRI' shouted Ketu who flash stepped in front of Ratiasu and directed his dragon straight in Usaitar's face. He raised his voulge in defense. The dragon didn't do any damage but was able to push back Usaitar quite far.

'Terri, are you alright?' asked Ketu turning round to see Ratiasu.

'I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound, and on my left arm as well, I can still fight,' said Ratiasu, breathing heavily. She grabbed her sword and carried on. 'I'm fine,' she said once more.

'Awww, you poor little girl,' Usaitar smirked and didn't stay in one place for too long as a shower of blades came raining down on him.

'Shut up you moron,' shouted Hikari. Usaitar flash stepped to a distance only to just block an attack by Ketu as he had attacked him.

He jumped back and Ratiasu saw an opening, she said, 'Scatter, Senbonzakura.' Her blade shattered and all of the pieces shot at Usaitar who spun his voulge and deflected the attack. Ratiasu's sword was now back to normal again. She flash stepped and hit him again fraction of a second later. Usaitar was too slow and didn't manage to block and was cut across his chest. Usaitar jumped backwards and kneeling down blood was splattering on the floor from where he was cut.

'You're fast, I'll give you that. 'Dragon Queen of Speed' I can see where that name came from,' said Usaitar slightly panting. 'Well no more mister nice guy, I'll need to go all out.' He yelled out a horrible cry and his spiritual pressure rose up by five times. 'Now the real battle begins.' He vanished and went for Ratiasu who blocked but didn't have enough strength to hold the deadlock until a huge gust of wind from behind her gave her enough momentum to hold it. 'So, you two work well together,' he jumped backwards, 'fine.' He vanished once again this time going after Hikari. She didn't have anything to block the attack with and was stabbed through the stomach. Usaitar flash stepped away as Hikari screamed in pain.

'KARI' shouted Ratiasu, and she instantly flash stepped next to her.

'Looks like I wasn't that useful after all,' Kari whispered barely able to speak. She closed her eyes.

'No, don't go,' cried Ratiasu still holding her.

'Let's break up this heartbreaking moment shall we?' shouted Usaitar who charged at them laughing. Ratiasu looked at him in shock and was unable to move.

'TERRI! MOVE!' shouted Ketu who was running as fast as he can but knew he couldn't get there on time.

Hikari immediately opened her eyes, 'sorry Terri,' she said and pushed Ratiasu away from her. Ratiasu landed next to Ketu. Hikari moved her hand at Usaitar this triggered all her blades to shoot at Usaitar. He just laughed like a maniac and carried on charging, the blades had no affect what so ever again Usaitar's massive spiritual energy. The next moment a spray of blood came out of Hikari's back where she had just been punctured by the voulge. Blood dripped from her mouth and she shut her eyes.

'NOOOOO' screamed Ratiasu, crying and kneeing on the floor.

Usaitar pulled the voulge out and another shower of blood came from Hikari's stomach. 'Well that wasn't so hard,' he said with a maniacal grin on his face. He vanished again, this time targeting Ratiasu. But before he hit, he was blocked by a wind shield formed by Ketu.

'Come on, get up Terri, I'm sure you're able to heal Kari later, but first we need to kill this guy,' said Ketu pulling Ratiasu out from danger.

'Kill me? Ha, who do you think you're kidding,' laughed Usaitar.

'You'll pay for what you've done,' shouted Ratiasu. She stood up and moved to a fair distance in front of Usaitar and shouted, 'Wave of Destruction number one, White Thunder. The same shot of lightning was ejected from Ratiasu's hands. They hit Usaitar at an incredible speed.

'That may have hurt back when I was only on a tenth of my powers. But now that I'm now on a half you don't stand a CHANCE,' he screamed the last word as lunged at Ratiasu, the attack hadn't done anything. Ratiasu looked both angry and shocked but for some reason was glued to the spot. Ketu appeared in front of her and waved his hand at Usaitar, the wind dragon once more darted at Usaitar who was again pushed back quite far blocking the attack.

Ratiasu found her senses, jumped above Ketu and chanted quickly 'The red moon will stir once more; the island will see no more daylight. Night will fall and all will be dark. Red eyes will be witnessed and the black dragon will awaken. Wave of destruction, number two: Blaze Hellfire Blast.' A vermillion wire of fire shot at Usaitar who was still being pushed back by the wind and couldn't dodge. The blast hit Usaitar with another big crash.

The dust cleared once again Usaitar was bleeding his body was cut up and he panted, 'Impressive little girl, combining speed with power, that almost hurt.' He panted some more, 'But now you've made me mad, I guess I have no choice but to release more of my POWER.' he screamed out and another bigger wave of spiritual pressure burst out of him. 'DESTRUCTION OF PARADISE,' he screamed spinning his voulge up in the air.

'Watch out,' shouted Ketu putting up his wind shield, but the pressure was too much, the shield couldn't take much more and it shattered. Both Ketu and Ratiasu were blown off their feet. Usaitar took this opening, flash stepped behind Ratiasu and kicked her. She accidently blocked but with her bad arm and screamed out in pain. Usaitar didn't waste any time and sliced straight through her back. Blood sprayed everywhere in the air. Usaitar pulled out the voulge and kicked Ratiasu downwards. She slammed into the ground and was silent, with blood still flowing out of her back and mouth.

'TERRI' screamed Ketu and he flash stepped next to her.

Usaitar took this final opening, 'Emotions are a weakness in a battle. This is the end,' and he swung down his voulge and sliced through Ketu's back. Blood splattered onto Usaitar and the ground from his cut. He flash stepped away to a further distance and Ketu collapsed next to Ratiasu

He used his last bit of strength to stroke Ratiasu's hair. Tears were swimming in his eyes. 'You look beautiful even in your sleep,' he said. Ratiasu opened her eyes a bit, her green and blue eyes glistened in the sunlight. 'I love you, Terri,' whispered Ketu holding Ratiasu's hand. Ratiasu tried to get up.

'I love you too,' she coughed, more drops of blood came out her mouth. 'Don't die Ket, I need you.' And then they both closed their eyes and fainted due to loss of blood. Ratiasu's silver haired sparkled in the light and drifted downwards as she fell down again.

'Hmph, young love, how I missed it,' smiled Usaitar walking towards them. 'Ah well, time to heal up.' He absorbed Hikari, Ketu and Ratiasu's spiritual power and he was back to normal again with no injuries, 'Time to get them to him then.'

He was about to go to pick them up when suddenly, 'Hado number ninety, black coffin.' shouted a voice behind him.

**To Be Continued****… don't you just love the cliff-hanger? Oh and btw next one should be out next Wednesday I think, cause I'm taking a break over half-term**


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**** – Rise and shine your light, HIDORAGON**

Usaitar jumped back just in time before the black box formed.

'Such high spiritual pressure, who is it?' he said looking behind him. Haruka was calmly advancing towards him.

'Leave my friends alone.' she shouted. She moved her right hand and pointed two fingers at Usaitar, 'Hado number 89, Burning Darkness' a circle of black flames appeared around Usaitar and closed in around him. Usaitar just barely managed to get away, even still, a bit of the flames did catch him and burnt his right leg a bit. Haruka instantly flash stepped next to the three bodies on the ground.

'Dammit, I didn't make it back in time.' She looked rather angry with herself, 'Don't worry guys, I'll get you back to safety. I promise.' She straightened up and looked at Usaitar. 'Well, it's been a while since I had to use my powers. Consider yourself lucky to be able to witness them.' She charged with incredible speed and shot at Usaitar with the speed of a jet, and hit Usaitar, who blocked, with the force of a cannon. Even if it was fist against sword, Usaitar was still easily knocked back a few tens of meters.

'Such power, from a mere unranked soul reaper? This is impossible,' said Usaitar looking rather shocked.

'I chose to be unranked so no one finds out my strength. I've always been a modest girl. I've never liked being above everyone else, it's lonely at the top. Only these three didn't care about my power. The only reason I'll use my strength is for my friends. Now that you've hurt them, I cannot forgive you. You will perish.' When she was saying that a golden mass of spiritual pressure was building up around her and it's strength kept going up.

'This is insane, how can you, a little girl have so much power,' asked Usaitar sill looking shocked.

'Hmph, people will always judge on size and appearances, don't they. Don't underestimate anyone, because that will be your downfall.' She moved so fast again that Usaitar didn't see it coming and was kicked up into the air. Haruka followed the attack and jumped up into the air as well and kicked Usaitar straight back down. He smashed into the ground with a big crash

'Looks like I won't even need my sword,' said Haruka, 'let's finish this off quickly, I have friends who need me.' She shot down at Usaitar with a punch at high speed. Usaitar just dodged by an inch. The ground shook violently because of the velocity and power of the punch causing an earthquake.

'Grrrr…' Usaitar stood up and looked angry, 'Obliterate. DESTRUCTION OF PARADISE,' the huge wave of spiritual energy erupted once again. Haruka smiled at the incoming mass of spiritual pressure, it went past her and didn't bother her in the slightest.

'Ah, now that's a lovely breeze,' said Haruka calmly letting the spiritual pressure blow her hair behind her. She then moved to him with extreme speed and punched him right in the stomach. There was a sickening sound and Usaitar was blasted back into the trees he flew straight into a tree and went through it. The tree collapsed and Usaitar looked unconscious.

'It's time to finish this, Hado number 85, Black Shot of Heaven.' She pointed one finger at Usaitar and a black round globe shaped object shot out of her finger. It hit Usaitar and blew up in a massive explosion. Then out of nowhere, Usaitar appeared from behind Haruka.

'Ha, don't let your guard down,' he whispered and stabbed with his sword.

'I don't,' she said immediately drawing her sword and blocking the attack. 'How typical, looks like I'll have to use my sword then.' She slashed. Usaitar blocked but was thrown back due to the sheer force of the attack.

'Grrrr… I never wanted to do this, but you gave me no choice, AARRGGHHH,' he screamed out releasing all of his spiritual power. A few seconds or so after many shockwaves he stopped, having reached his maximum power. 'Now I am ten times more powerful and faster. Try and dodge this,' he instantly vanished and slashed at Haruka. She quickly blocked but she was thrown back this time. She was about to hit a tree but she held out her hand and stopped just before hitting the tree. Usaitar took this chance to launch another attack. Haruka instantaneous flash stepped away to some distance.

'I never thought I'd have to do this. However, I must save my friends.' She held out her sword in front of her. 'Brighten the Darkness.' A gigantic amount of spiritual pressure exploded from her creating a huge tornado and she's in the middle of it. 'Hidoragon.' The spiritual pressure blasted out and uprooted a few trees, forcing Usaitar to kneel down in defence of the pressure. The guard changed to a dragon's head, the blade and the handle grew five centimetres longer, and everything turned red.

She grabbed the sword with two hands, 'You're done.' She pointed her sword at Usaitar, 'shiraenkouya.' You could see massive amounts of spirit particles all gathering into the guard of her blade. A second later a white arrow shaped object shot from the guard of the blade and aimed straight for Usaitar.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOO,' he screamed before 'BOOM' the arrow hit with such velocity that all trees next to him were instantly disintegrated.

'That's that,' she said her sword returned to normal. The dust cleared to reveal a massive crater at where the attack hit, Usaitar was in the middle drenched in blood lying on his back panting heavily, but still alive. 'So I see, using your own spiritual pressure you shielded yourself from most of the damage. How clever I must say.' She walked towards him looking to do the finishing blow.

But then, 'is it over?' a voice asked behind her appearing out of no where

She instantly turned round holding her sword up in defence but when she saw it was Ratiasu she lowered it. 'How? What? You? How are you standing up?' She rubbed her eyes and looked again, 'Weren't you unconscious a second ago? And now you're just walking around like nothing's happened. What happened to your injuries?' she asked looking bewildered but happy.

'Well I never did get around telling everyone about my bankai's third ability did I? To put is simply, after I am defeated and my bankai reverts back to my normal sword it'll heal me slowly. After ten minutes, I should be fully healed like nothing's happened. And your battle sure looked like it lasted longer than ten minutes.'

'How's the other two then?' asked Haruka looking relieved.

'Don't worry, they'll be just fine, I've already closed up their wounds they just need some rest now.'

'That's good to hear.'

Ratiasu walked over to the massive crater and looked at Usaitar with disgust.

'You, I know I've met you somewhere before, what is your real name?' asked Usaitar still in bad shape.

'My name is Ratiasu, but what's it to you?' she said in a fierce tone.

'You are Ratiasu? I've searched all this time and it was you?' he said after that he went out into a fit of laughter. 'I guess I should've asked for your name first before fighting.' He laughed again.

'What's so funny?' she asked looking a little confused.

'You were the only one who stood between me and my ultimate power? And you were standing right before my eyes. How could I have not noticed?' said Usaitar laughing once more.

'What are you talking about?' asked Ratiasu.

'Guess you weren't there at that meeting then. To put it plainly, I'm your twin brother.'

'You what? That's not true. I don't have siblings'

'Oh you do. And I can prove it as well, try spelling your name backwards.' He said with a smirk on his face.

'Usaitar,' Ratiasu whispered looking more shocked than ever, with her eyes widened

'That's right, Ratiasu to Usaitar, you don't forget these things you see. It's the sign that we are siblings.'

'No, this can't be true, I'm not a brother of a villain,' cried Ratiasu in complete denial.

'Hey back off,' shouted Haruka standing between Ratiasu and Usaitar.

'You. You have power, what have you been known by? I have a feeling that our paths have crossed before.' asked Usaitar to Haruka, looking intrigued.

'Known by? That does ring a bell. Once, years ago someone used to call me 'The White Dragon Princess' but I had no idea what that was about so I tried to forget but I couldn't.'

'Ha, so you are the princess? I had two of them in front of me and I didn't even notice, guess I really am foolish.'

'You're not foolish, you're useless,' said a voice from behind the trees.

'Hisaigo? You were watching this?' said Usaitar.

'Of course, I needed their souls after all and I was going to collect them as well if you didn't mess things up,' said Hisaigo coolly walking towards them. He looked straight at Ratiasu, 'I'm sorry to break this to you, but you really are his twin sister, the one who had the incredible speed. The queen if you will. But looks like Usaitar here won't be getting that last sword piece he wants so much.'

'Wait, what are you saying?' asked Usaitar looking terrified still lying on the ground.

'I'm saying, I have no further use for you, so you are not needed,' he vanished appearing next to Usaitar stabbing him straight through where his heart is.

There was a high-pitched scream and Usaitar slowly disappeared, 'I'll be back to get what's mine, you just wait, sister.' And he evaporated into dust.

'Wait didn't you disappear?' asked Haruka staying calm, staring at Hisaigo

'I did, only to prepare for this, you see what I desire is to rule over soul society, and to do that I need to kill the king. But to get to him, I need either the key, or the fourth release of a sword.'

'A fourth release?' Haruka sounded unsurprised however.

'Yes there's an even more powerful release then bankai. But the only way to obtain that is to absorb everyone's soul who's a soul reaper. You four and some others are the only ones remaining. Although there is a simpler way, which is to find the three dragons, The Master, Queen and Princess. But I don't know who they are yet so, I'm going with my way first.' He paused. 'Here's a little something you should know. My sword has a second ability. Whoever I cut with it will be under my complete control. And now currently everyone is under my control, I won't absorb their souls just yet, I need a full set. So give me your souls peacefully and I'll promise you a quick and painless death.'

'You don't scare me,' shouted Haruka.

'Then I will make you learn to fear me.' He quickly raise his hand and a ball of fire shot towards Haruka.

'Hado number ninety, black coffin,' shouted Haruka who just made it on time and was able to contain the fire attack.

'Not good enough,' said Hisaigo. He clicked his finger and the black box burst open, the impact blew both Haruka and Ratiasu off their feet.

'Grr… such power,' thought Haruka. She expertly landed next Hikari. 'Grab Ket and leave, I'll be right behind you, don't go to the underground base, it has already been taken over by him. I will be right behind you to give directions.'

'Big words.' said Hisaigo smiling.

'Run Terri,' screamed Haruka. Ratiasu had a moment's hesitation which was just enough for Hisaigo to flash step in front of her.

'MOVE,' screamed Haruka.

'Looks like you're first,' said Hisaigo raising his hand once more.

But before he was able to do anything a voice behind him screamed, 'next dance, white ripple.' A massive wave of ice came flying in and froze Hisaigo solid.

'Let's move it, he's too strong. We need to hide and regroup,' shouted Rukia jumping in from the skies. Haruka grabbed Hikari and flash stepped away followed closely behind by Ratiasu carrying Ketu and lastly came Rukia.

'Where are we going?' asked Ratiasu.

'To our new base, we will launch a counter-attack against Hisaigo when we are ready. But first we need to regroup and see how many people escaped after Hisaigo attacked.' said Haruka. She carried on moving, out of seireitei, into the hills and further away.

The ice cracked and burst open. Hisaigo stood there looking annoyed and wiping himself of ice. 'Well that was troublesome. I will have you though. I will rule over soul society. And not even the Dragons will be able to stop me,' he stood there and laughed, like a maniac.

**End of part 1**

**Starting part 2 now, should be up next week Wednesday or Thursday, hope that isn't too long for everyone to wait.**


	11. Chapter 9

**Part two – Hisaigo**

**Chapter 9 – Plan**

Exactly two months has passed since Hisaigo took over seireitei and the thirteen divisions. The survivors of the massacre are Toshiro, Hikari, Raven, Naomi, Ketu, Ratiasu, Crystal, Rukia, Byakuya, Renji, Rangiku, and Haruka. Raven, Naomi and Crystal was healed up by Ratiasu after she ran away with Rukia and the others. Everyone else are all under Hisaigo's full control. The only way to free them is to kill Hisaigo. But if Ratiasu was to heal their wound they will also get better but will stay in a coma. Luckily he won't absorb any into his sword until everyone is at his control so the survivors have a chance to save them. Seireitei has completely changed, Hisaigo has changed it to his liking. There is the central room where he is, surrounded by seven layers of thick and high walls that are impossible to break open or climb over. The only way to get through is to beat the gate keeper at the gates which are guarded by two controlled captains or vice captains.

Their base is located on a mountain side to the far east of seireitei like a cave sort of building. The building itself is relatively large with many rooms and levels with over twenty rooms in total. The building used to be a monastery type building but now that Hisaigo has taken over no one dares to come, so it makes the place a perfect hiding place as no one comes by. A week after they escaped each person took it in turns to espionage on seireitei and see what was going on. They planned their attack, for three months after that. Raven refused to spy and said it was pointless. Ratiasu also refused saying it wasn't her style but everyone else did.

Two weeks after they escaped Naomi became depressed remembering how helpless she was when Raven was badly injured. She blamed herself for not fully mastering her bankai and not being strong enough to help Raven when he needed it. So to that she left the group with tears in her eyes the only person who tried to stop her was Crystal who was the only one to see her leave. She wasn't able to convince Naomi to stay and in the end she went with her to get stronger. The day after that Raven noticed they were both missing and deduced from that that they both left. Raven who cared too much for his sister and now has feelings for Crystal left suddenly and went to look for the both of them to say it wasn't their fault. This in turn made Ketu think about how useless he was as he wasn't able to protect Ratiasu. He did many days of thinking in his room alone until one night he wrote one word on a letter to Ratiasu and left. The word was 'sorry' a single word that broke Ratiasu down to tears. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't talk. For three days, she stayed in her room crying, it took every one of her friends to calm her down and get her to start talking again. Though when she came out she said she'd go looking for him but everyone knew that if she left they'd stand no chance because only she had the power to cure everyone, so again it took all of her friends to persuade her to stay and to convince her that Ketu will return soon. After that she stood at the edge of the mountain every morning and night waiting staring into distance. But now at the present time she has given up waiting everyday but instead is now thinking about other things like the seireitei invasion, this kept her mind off Ketu although secretly she is still very sad deep down in her heart.

Hikari was constantly coming up with battle strategies on how to go about attacking, (most of which were good if they had more people). They were four shinigami down and only had nine people left. Hollows and many other soul reapers were constantly on watch and it was nearly impossible for a sneak attack with so many eyes watching. So Hikari has planned a direct approach i.e. run at the gate and kill anything you see, simple but it should work. Problem is the first wall has two gates and the two soul reapers guarding (unknown who it is yet) they can go to either gate so Hikari has decided to divide the remaining eight into two groups to attack both gates at once and take out the two guarding. When the two guarding have been taken out both gates will open and they can meet in front of the second gate. Then after that they haven't been able to plan anything because they couldn't see that far in. Villages and town outside the seireitei have been terrorized by the hollows and the people have either been killed or have ran and hid somewhere. There are still some villages that are left untouched because the hollows haven't reached that far out. And also some other villages left because they've been able to put up a good resistance.

It was a beautiful night sky, the moon was shining, and the stars were glistening and twinkling. All was peaceful there were many villages below but no one lived there anymore it's all deserted no hollows come by here either knowing that there's nothing to find. Ratiasu was sitting on the edge of the cliff staring into the darkness in deep thought about everything that was going on but especially about where Ketu has gone. A light breeze blew over the cliff, Ratiasu silver hair flew up in response, reflecting the moonlight, and shimmered. Her scarf caught the wind and floated about in mid-air. She closed her eyes and laid down enjoying the breeze.

'Hey Terri. It's not good for your health to be out every night in the cold.' Rukia just walked out of a large double door behind her and light was flooding out. Ratiasu just laid there and didn't answer pretending to be asleep. 'Hey I'm serious. We can't have you catching a cold on the day before out attack. Are you even listening to me?'

Ratiasu sat up. Stretched and yawned, 'Oh sorry Rukia, I was asleep. What did you just say?'

'Don't pretend you didn't hear me,' said Rukia a bit annoyed. She sighed and said, 'Come on, let's go back in you need to be with us to hear the plan of attack for tomorrow.' Rukia walked back in, 'Come back in at the most five minutes, meet us in the dining hall, we will all be there. By the way don't catch a cold.' She closed the door behind her and darkness fell again.

A high shriek came from a distance that sounded like a hollow being killed. 'Another soul reaper that's still alive? Could it be? No, maybe I just imagined it, or maybe it was Ketu. Arhh, my mind's playing tricks on me, guess I should go back in then.' She thought. She got up and made her way to the door but before she opened it she heard another screech, she shock her head violently and decided it was her imagination, opened the door and went back into the warmness of the cave/mansion.

She stepped in and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. Just behind the door was Haruka who looked like she had been standing there waiting for a while.

'Oh, hi Rika, how long have you been standing there?' said Ratiasu looking at Haruka to her right sounding surprised.

'Only for as long as you have been outside. Have you noticed that you tend to think out loud a lot? I heard you talking about Ketu, Raven and the others who have left so I thought you were talking with someone. But then I looked and saw that you were talking to yourself.' said Haruka sounding intrigued.

'Do I?' asked Ratiasu looking embarrassed because she just remember what she was thinking about, 'well, I guess I do then. But let's keep what I said between you and me okay?'

'Why? What's wrong with you and Ketu in a city called Venice in the real world? Alone and-'

Ratiasu jumped in front of her and put one finger to her mouth, 'Shush,' she whispered ferociously, 'that's a secret and it's going to stay that way. It's private information ok?'

'Alright, alright, calm down I'll keep that a secret. But what about the times you were talking about with Ketu in seireitei. Hmm… I remember you saying something about being in his house a lot I can't quite remem-'

Ratiasu laughed uncomfortably and grabbed Haruka's hand, 'well, looks like it's time for that big meeting about tomorrow's invasion come on now we don't want to be late, ha ha.' She said that in a nervous giggly way. She pulled Haruka along with her as she entered the main hall (which was the dining hall).

The room was lit by four magnificent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The room had five other door altogether on its four sides. A large oval shaped table stood in the centre of the room with nine chairs surrounding it evenly spaced. The table was empty at the moment. The room had a high ceiling going about eight metres upwards. The room was made from very fine looking wood and looked very old. Out of the nine seats around the table, only four was left unfilled. Haruka and Ratiasu sat down at their usual spots next to each other.

'Well only two left now,' said Rukia, 'good of you to make it Terri.'

'Ah well, you know, I can't stay out there forever,' said Ratiasu in a sleepy way. 'Although I would probably enjoy it if I did.'

'We don't have time to stare at stars and daydream. I hope you are prepared,' said Byakuya in a non-caring mood.

'Don't worry, I'm always prepared for anything,' said Ratiasu holding her arms up in a ready position.

'Humph, whatever you say.' whispered Byakuya and Ratiasu was just barely able to hear him.

'So, who are we waiting for?' asked Haruka. Looking around the table at everyone's faces and counting.

'I still don't understand how an unranked soul reaper like you could have survived these attacks.' said Byakuya in a most rude way.

Haruka stood up and banged her hands on the table, 'Just because I'm unranked doesn't mean I'm weak, I'll take you on right now if you want,' said Haruka grabbing the handle of her sword.

'Hmph, I don't have time to waste on a weakling,' said Byakuya coolly.

'Why you,' she glared at him and was about to do something when one of the five doors linked to the hall opened and Hikari stepped out.

'Sorry I'm late, I had to-,' she stopped noticing Haruka and Byakuya, 'Oh am I interrupting something?' she walked slowly to her seat.

'No, no, of course not, please sit down Captain Uera,' said Byakuya politely. Haruka let go of her sword and slowly sat back down also glaring at Byakuya.

'Looks like we are still one person short, does anyone know where Rangiku is?' asked Hikari laying down a map of (new) seireitei.

'Knowing her, probably washing her hair or doing her nails for the hundredth time,' said Toshiro in an annoyed tone. They sat there for five minutes until finally, a door opened and Rangiku walked out with a wet towel around her neck.

'Sorry I'm late but my hair was getting a bit dirty so I thought I better wash it,' said Rangiku happily walking to her seat by Toshiro.

'We are at war here and you're washing your hair? Well that's Rangiku for ya,' sighed Toshiro, 'well at least the meeting can start now.'

'Yes indeed,' said Hikari. 'So,' she looked around the faces, 'is everyone ready? Shall I begin?'

'Well, sometime today would be good,' suggested Byakuya.

'Ok then,' she pushed the map into the centre of the table and stood up. She walked over to the lights and switched them off leaving the room in almost complete darkness. She pulled a remote control type of object out of her pocket and pressed a button. The map shot up to a height where it was easily visible by everyone and turned into a 3-D hologram of the seireitei. 'Sorry, but this map only shows us two layers of the walls, I can confirm that there is seven layers in total.' She walked back to the table and pointed at a gate shaped hole in the first layer of wall. 'This is the first gate that we discovered. At that time it wasn't guarded but we couldn't enter. Now the second gate is located on the exact opposite side of the wall,' the hologram turned around and the second gate was there. 'This gate when we spied on it was guarded by what looked like two vice-captains, we couldn't confirm who they were because we couldn't get close enough without being seen, but we are sure that they aren't captains because we didn't see any of the two wearing white captain uniforms. Now our strategy is simple, basically. Divide and conquer. We have confirmed from an anonymous source that if we are able to defeat both vice captains then both gates will open.'

'How much do you trust this anonymous person?' asked Renji slouching in his chair.

'Well, I trust him with my life, is that good enough for everyone?' she replied looking around.

'Yeah, if you trust this guy then we will too,' said Haruka.

'Good, then I'll carry on. We will divide ourselves into two groups each group attacking either gate. The group that attacks the gate with the guards will have the honour of taking them down, but try and not kill them Ratiasu will be able to heal them once you bring them to her. We will rendezvous at the second gate. Here,' she said pointing to another gate this time on the inner layer of wall. 'That is the plan, it's simple but it should be effective. I have divided us into two groups equal in strength. First group A will have, Toshiro, Byakuya, Renji, Rangiku,and group B is Haruka me, Ratiasu, Rukia. Group A will go to the gate nearest to us and group B will go to the gate furthest away. If group A see the two guards they are not to attack until a day has passed because that's how long it's going to take group B to reach the other gate. We need to time this right, so exactly one day past the time we leave we shall attack. When the gate opens both groups run for the second gate and we'll meet there. Which ever groups arrive first shall start off the attack on the two guards.' She clicked the button again and the hologram disappeared. She turned on the lights and stood by her chair. 'So any questions?' She looked around again, 'No? Well then get a good nights sleep everyone, we set off at sunrise.' No one said anything, everyone just got up and left to their individual rooms. Ratiasu stayed behind.

'Did you put us three in the same group on purpose?' asked Ratiasu.

'Yes, so we can keep an eye on Haruka. I know that she won't release her sword in front of someone else who's not her friends so if the two guards are there we can take them out with Rukia and Haruka won't need to do anything then.'

'Good plan, I like it,' she yawned, 'well, I'm off to bed, see you in the morning.' She left without another word. Hikari stretched and also left. A minute later the dining room was empty, dark and silent.

The building was shaking the walls were crumbling. Ratiasu just woke up, 'What the hell is going on?' she screamed putting on her clothes and charging down stairs. Everyone was already there, they had their swords out.

'Terri, I'm glad you're awake, come on we need to get out,' shouted Hikari. Everyone rushed out side at that sentence.

'Such high spiritual pressure,' said Renji looking around outside for the source.

'So this is where you've been hiding, Guess I got lucky,' it was Kenpachi, he had no eye patch on, his spiritual pressure was blasting the building to pieces. Kenpachi didn't look any different except he had a mark that was two circles one in the other, two triangles put together inside the inner circle with a cross in the circle on his forehead. That the was sign that he was controlled.

'Ha ha ha ha, little ants, you all shall be crushed,' screamed Kenpachi releasing all his spiritual pressure.

'Well said Zaraki, we shall finish them off together,' shouted Mayuri appearing next to Kenpachi. 'You will all die you insects, BANKAI'


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – An unwanted guest**

A giant caterpillar crawled out of the shadows (with a silver halo). 'Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō' poisonous smoke came out of its mouth causing everyone to jump backwards. 'Get them,' said Mayuri. Many blades came out of the caterpillar's body and it rushed towards them. Everyone flash stepped up into the air to move out of the way.

'Split into the two groups, everyone MOVE,' shouted Hikari above the noise. All eight people went into two groups of four, 'as we planned get to the gate, don't attack until tomorrow at this time. Let's move it.' Byakuya's group ran off in the opposite direction to the closest gate.

'He he, you're not getting away,' shouted Kenpachi running after them and disappearing off into the distance.

'Do you think they'll make it?' asked Ratiasu running next to Hikari

'Of course they will, they've got two captains there. I'm sure they'll be fine,' replied Hikari followed closely by Rukia and Haruka.

'Ha ha ha, do you really think you can escape my Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō. You people should think again.' He pointed his sword towards Hikari, the caterpillar instantly sprang up into the air, landed next to Hikari and shot blades towards her. Before the spikes hit she was rescued by Ratiasu who saw the danger and immediately flash stepped Hikari out of harms way. 'Oh? Try escape this then, get her,' he waved his hand in Ratiasu's direction. The caterpillar breathed out massive amounts of poisonous smog over the four girls.

'Oh crap, we have to run,' shouted Haruka. The poisonous gas cloud floated towards them with an increasing pace thanks to the wind blowing in their direction. Mayuri and the caterpillar followed. The path was clear nothing stood in their way, no hollows, people or any foliage. It was as if Mayuri had planned to chase them like this. They ran for a few minutes and realized that running wasn't going to solve anything.

'It's no use, we can't out run the smog. Our only chance is to stand and fight,' said Hikari who stopped running and turned around to face the poisonous cloud.

'Hmph, what ever you say Kari,' said Ratiasu. Everyone stopped and turned to face Mayuri who has also stopped.

'Oh? You're not going to run anymore? The fun ended a bit too early, I was only GETTING STARTED,' he screamed. The caterpillar 'stood' up and shot out its blades at the four.

'Don't think so,' said Ratiasu. Everyone flash stepped to dodge the attack, Ratiasu flash stepped up into the air in front of Mayuri aimed hands at him and shouted, 'Hado number 33, pale fire crash,' many blue streams of thunder shot out of Ratiasu's finger and fired at Mayuri who quickly flash stepped upwards and dodged it.

'Ha, nice shot but not good enough,' as soon as Mayuri said that two blade shot out from behind him. Ratiasu didn't have the time to dodge she was able to block one but the other one cut her left arm. Blood started dripping from the cut, she didn't get time to do anything as another two blades followed the first shot. This time it was Hikari who came up and blocked both shots.

'Get back Terri, you're wounded,' shouted Hikari. Ratiasu obeyed and flash stepped backwards to heal her wound whilst Haruka and Rukia both flash stepped next to Hikari.

'I'll shoot all three of you down with one shot,' said Mayuri. About fifty blades shot out of the caterpillar directed at them three.

Rukia jumped in from of them, 'Dance, sode no shira yuki,' her sword turned to its released state, she spun round and said, 'first dance, white moon.' A beam of ice erupted around her going upwards and any blade that came in contact either was frozen up or shattered, blocking the blades going to Haruka and Hikari.

'My turn,' said Hikari who charged at the poisonous cloud, 'blossom, rozehana.' Blades emerged from her sword's guard and started to encircle the sword. 'Ben dansu' she shouted and aimed the blades at the ground in front of the caterpillar.

'You missed,' said Mayuri.

'Oh did I?' the dust cleared to reveal that the poisonous smog had been blown away by the explosion that occurred after the attack.

'Interesting strategy, well then guess he'll just need to poison you again.'

'He won't have time to,' said Hikari smiling because at that moment Haruka came charging out of no where and stabbed the caterpillar in the face, then flash stepped back. The caterpillar writhed around in pain as Rukia stood in front of it and took this chance to finish the fight.

'Second dance, white ripple.' A wave of ice blasted out of her sword and completely engulfed the caterpillar. Rukia turned around and walked away, she sheathed her sword and as she did, the ice burst into pieces and the caterpillar was no more.

'Ha ha ha, not bad, but that wasn't the end.' laughed Mayuri.

'What?' said Rukia turning round looking surprised. Mayuri raised his sword and the pieces of the caterpillar in ice moved towards one another. For a moment it looked as if the caterpillar was going to be rebuilt, but in actual fact it reformed into a tower shaped object.

'Bye bye,' whispered Mayuri but loud enough for everyone to hear. The tower rumbled a little and without warning, it exploded with a ferocious bang blowing everyone off their feet. Ratiasu was also caught in the blast and before she was blasted into the sky, she saw Mayuri, laughing his head off.

Minutes passed and as they flew into the sky carried by the momentum of the blast. They couldn't land because the velocity of the explosion was still carrying them along. When finally the blast ran out of energy they found themselves pretty high up in the sky. They dived back downwards. It was a safe landing no one was hurt although Rukia did have a few scorch marks on her leg where the flames caught her, but that was easily healed by Ratiasu.

'Where are we?' asked Haruka looking around. It was like a desert, nothing grew, no one was seen, they were alone in an unknown part of soul society.

'I didn't know there was a desert in soul society,' said Ratiasu looking bewildered.

'I did,' said Hikari, 'this is the place where people are trained if they want to enter hueco mundo, the environment here is apparently very similar to those in hueco mundo. Problem is, this place is quite far from the seireitei. I don't know if we can make it in twenty four hours now.'

'Don't worry, if worst comes to worst we can always flash step our way there, though that would leave us with no spiritual energy to spare if we had to fight. So let's just hope we don't fight,' said Haruka, looking rather cheery for some reason.

'Well then let's go, we can't waste anytime here, follow me,' said Hikari leading everyone off into one direction.

'Erm… are you sure this is the right way?' asked Ratiasu.

'Don't you worry, I've had to come here on two occasions to oversee some people train, so I know my way around here. Just follow me and we'll be out of here in no time,' said Hikari leading the way.

'For a desert, it isn't really that hot,' said Rukia.

'Yeah they couldn't make it hot as it's the same temperature as the whole of soul society. So they didn't bother in the end,' Hikari explained and Rukia nodded.

They walked for about an hour with nothing to look at except desert sand and even more sand. It wasn't hot so it wasn't a bad experience, but walking through nothing was quite boring.

The hours passed and they come to a halt when Hikari sees a huge gate shaped object off in the distance .She pointed towards it, 'there it is, that's the divide between desert and normal land, come on, we're nearly there.'

She sped up into a run and ran straight towards the gate until a deep low voice came out of no where and said, 'Not so fast, I need a word with you, woman.' All four of them looked up to the sky and saw a man. He had Mettalic white hair, he was wearing an arrancar jacket, which revealed a hole in his chest, and he had half a mask as his jaws. He slowly glided down and confronted them.

'An arrancar? I thought they died out when Aizen was defeated ages ago,' thought Rukia.

'Who are you?' inquired Haruka.

'Me? I am Plata Acerogarra, I am one of the five Wujian, the top five arrancar. And I have come for you, Ratiasu.'


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**** – Sidetracked, but did they really?**

'What? Why me?' asked Ratiasu looking at him with confusion.

'You need to know nothing.' As soon as he said that, he flash stepped in front of her (his sword already drawn) and slashed down at her. Hikari saw the danger and flash stepped right away to block the attack.

'Get lost.' She swung her sword at Plata, which made him jump backwards, she then pointed her sword at him, 'Blossom Rozehana,' she said. The sword transformed and she jumped back and shot blades at him. Plata didn't flinch he raised his hand effortlessly grabbed the blades and crushed them. He charged at her with amazing speed and hit her in the stomach, she didn't have time to dodge and was knocked back a few metres.

'Hmph, you're weak.' He raised his hand once more, a red sphere formed in his palm and shot at Hikari. Both Haruka and Ratiasu flash stepped to block it but Rukia got there first.

'Dance, sode no shira yuki.' She hesitated for a fraction of a second and then, 'Next dance, white ripple.' The blast of ice collided with the cero blast and exploded with a huge impact. Everyone shielded themselves with their hands and didn't see that Plata had fired another cero blast at them. The second shot hit the Rukia, exploded and blew all of them off their feet. Blood rained down from Rukia as she fell unconscious, three more cero blasts followed, one hit Hikari blood spurted out of her mouth and she fainted. Haruka and Ratiasu both managed to dodge them but the collision of the cero blast and the ground had enough impact strength to knock them into the air. Two bala shots shot at Haruka and Ratiasu, Haruka released her sword in the fraction of a second and was able to fire her attack to block it, but the attack hit Ratiasu and she fainted straight away. But before she did she saw Plata open a pathway to hueco mundo and hear him whisper, 'my job is done.' He left. The next thing she saw and remembered was complete darkness.

Ratiasu woke up and sat up. She was in a large room the light was dim, there was no windows which made it look underground. She was lying on a rather small bed and she saw, Rukia and Hikari on two other beds in front of her.

'Hey, Kari, Rukia, you two ok?' she said sounding worried, after a while they didn't answer, she got up and walked towards their beds. Both Rukia and Hikari were sleeping, as Ratiasu was about to heal them a voice came from behind her.

'You needn't do that, they're already healed, they'll be fine,' said a male deep voice behind her. She instantly drew her sword. It was a young man about mid-twenties black hair, fairly tall with one eye brown and the other purple (rather scary), he was wearing a soul reaper uniform and a sword at his side.

'Who are you?' she said threateningly.

'No need to be so hostile, truth is, I healed them and you. Nice to see you're awake by the way.' He saw that she didn't lower her sword, 'Sorry, guess I should introduce myself, I'm Haodong Zhang, I'm one of the few remaining soul reapers to have survived the massacre, it's nice to meet you.' Another person came in behind Haodong and whispered some words to him, this man was taller, blonde hair, blue eyes and also had a soul reaper uniform, 'sorry, I got some things I need to take care off, you're friend Haruka will be here in a minute. Look after yourself, bye.' And he walked off down a long tunnel through which he came.

Ratiasu stood there, trying to take in what just had happened and sat down on her bed again. The minutes passed and nothing happened, the odd voice was heard down the path but she didn't dare go towards them. About an hour later Hikari and Rukia woke up.

'Oh crap what just happened?' asked Hikari who sat up and looked around. Rukia looked like she was about to ask the same thing but didn't say anything. Ratiasu described to them what just happened.

'We were rescued by soul reapers? Wow, I'm surprised there are still some alive. Guess we should be grateful then.' Hikari got up and stretched a bit. 'So, where's Haruka?'

'Don't know, that guy, Haodong, who came by said that she'd be coming by soon but it's been an hour. Hmm.. where is she,' replied Ratiasu.

Just as if Haruka heard her question and decided to answer, she walked through the door. 'Well, well, look who's awake?'

'Hey, how come you're not hurt?' asked Rukia looking astonished.

'Lucky I guess,' Haruka smiled and walked towards them. 'So you guys alright now?'

'Yeah, we're fine,' replied Hikari. 'Since Ratiasu was out, who healed us? And what happened after we fainted.'

Haruka sat down on a bed next to them and she explained how she carried them out of the desert found a small village which she thought was empty but was actually inhabited by about ten Gillian class menos. She was ambushed but was rescued by a group of soul reapers who had survived Hisaigo's massacre and taken to their hideout underground. This group of soul reapers live here and thought that no hollows would come out this far so they picked here as a place to stay until Hisaigo leaves but were also attacked by the Gillian, now they're hiding underground waiting for a perfect moment to attack and wipe out the Gillian and reclaim their homes. She also told them it was the leader of the group who healed them because he happened to be the fourth seat of squad four. The others in the group haven't introduced themselves yet but they all seemed to be ranked officers in the gotei thirteen, otherwise they wouldn't have survived the massacre.

'Hmm… interesting.' She paused, 'Well I guess we should get moving, we've wasted too much time already. We still can make it by tomorrow if we leave now,' said Hikari grabbing her sword which was by her bed.

'What? We're just going to leave? After they've just saved us? That's been rather bad mannered. I think we should stay and help them get rid of those Gillian menos. I don't like to just leave after they risked their lives for us, after all they are planning to attack tonight. We should stay and help, a few Gillian menos shouldn't be much trouble for us to handle, it won't take long and we can set off when we finish, I'm sure if we flash stepped some of the distance we'll make it with no problem,' said Haruka.

'Geez, well I guess I've never been the sort of person to run off when there's someone in need of my help. Fine, we'll help them, but we leave as soon as the Gillians are dead,' said Hikari, although she doesn't seem completely sure of it.

'Great, well like I've said they're planning to attack tonight, so come on, follow me and I'll lead you to meet everyone.' Hikari left through the door followed by Rukia, Ratiasu and Hikari. They walked through a torch lit hallway the walls were rather moist with moss growing from them. The hallway was more like a small tunnel built stably like those of the catacombs and extended for a far distance. A few minutes of wandering in the endless maze, they came to a room. The ceiling was a few metres high, there was a large round table in the middle, and about ten torches on all four sides of wall lit the room. Eight people sat at the table, talking loudly about the invasion plan.

As soon as Haruka entered they all went quiet, until Haodong shouted, 'hey come on, sit down, glad to see that you're all okay.' They obeyed and took the four empty seats. 'Well, now that we are all here maybe it's time for some introductions. If no one wants to start I'll go first.' He looked around at everyone and no one said anything so he started, 'I'm the 4th seat of squad four, Haodong Zhang nice to meet you.' Hikari stared at him with great interest (hmm… I wonder if what she's thinking, don't you?). He bowed and sat down waving to the person behind him, who was the person who came by earlier, blond hair, fairly tall, with blue eyes.

He stood up bowed and said, 'I'm Matthew Richardson, 20th seat of squad two. It's a pleasure. Oh and please call me Richo.' He sat down again rather hastily as if he's a bit nervous.

The next person round the table stood up, he was about the same height as Matthew also with grey hair and blue eyes, but was obviously more confident that him, 'Hi, I'm Chris Kayley. 13th seat of squad six.' He smiled at everyone and sat down again.

Moving on two people stood up at the same time, one had Really short spiky hair, but not bald yet, and brown eyes and looks like the comedian type of person, the other had long brown hair reaching up to his neck and was seemingly happy. The one on with the short spiky hair spoke first, 'We're from squad ten, and I'm Lewis Buckley, I'm 15th seat.' Then he gestured to the person with the long hair. 'And this is my good friend Craig Bently, he also in squad ten but only 19th seat. Ha, you're crap Craig.' Craig looked at him and shook his head, they both sat down with Lewis still laughing hysterically.

'That's our comedian for ya,' said another guy on the opposite of Lewis. He has medium length red hair, a bit short as well. 'I'm Simon McLovin (not my choice of naming by the way) 8th seat of squad seven.' He sat down, and the last two of them eight stood up.

First to speak was another person with long brown hair that covered half his face, he has brown eyes and a non-caring look on his face. 'I'm Colin Salters, 7th seat of squad six.' He sat down again looking bored and unbothered.

The other person who stood up with him had deep brown colored hair, green eyes and rather tall. He spoke with an unusually high voice, 'Hello, I am Daniel Sanders, I'm also in squad six and I'm the 12th seat.' He waved at the girls in an idiotic fashion and sat down.

Haruka stood up this time, 'Well as many of you know by now, I am Haruka Rose an unranked Soul Reaper under squad five.'

Hikari stood up, 'Hikari Uera, captain of squad five.' There was a lot of murmuring between the eight men when she said this.

'I knew I recognized you,' said Haodong, who stood up immediately, 'I wasn't sure you were a captain though by the fact that you aren't wearing a haori.'

'I don't like to seem I'm better than everyone else, so I only wear it when I have to.'

'Ah I see, well please carry on,' beakoned Haodong

Rukia and Ratiasu both stood up, Rukia spoke first, 'I'm Rukia Kuchiki, standing captain of squad thirteen.' again a lot of murmuring.

'It'd be a lot easier to know who you were if you just wore your haoris,' said Colin.

'I would, but I had to run as fast as I could when Hisaigo attacked so I didn't have time to get it,' said Rukia.

'She makes a good point,' said Chris looking at Colin, who just shrugged and looked bored again.

Next Ratiasu spoke, 'I'm Ratiasu Zakihara, vice-captain of squad thirteen, pleased to have met you all.' She sat down.

'Well, with two captains and a vice-captain here this invasion should be a piece of cake, after they are only Gillian menos,' said Chris looking happy.

'Don't underestimate them, even if they are Gillians. If they were that easy to beat, we would've done it already instead of sitting in this underground cavern,' said Simon. Chris went quiet after that looking rather unhappy now.

'Okay then, Matthew here has devised a plan for us, so please Richo, tell us what you think.'

Matthew stood up and laid a map on the table. 'Well, erm. This is a map of our village, it is split into four quads, North, East, South and West. Basically what I'm planning is to attack the east quad, which has two Gillians guarding it then draw the rest of the menos to that quad and ambush them. With twelve of us and the element of surprise we should be able to take them easily.'

'I like it, simple plans are usually the best,' said Hikari politely.

'Well, if Kari says yes then I guess I'll agree as well,' said Ratiasu, Haruka and Rukia both nodded.

'Sounds good, we'll attack tonight at eleven o'clock sharp, those menos won't know what hit them,' said Haodong sounding confident. They all walked off back to heir rooms after that.

**A bit of a filler, but most of these new characters will return later on in the story and about 2 will have a bigger role later on, see if u can guess who. Anyway next chp will be out on usual day of wednesday**


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – ****The Warriors' Farewell**

It was half past ten. Everyone except Lewis had gathered in the large room once again ready to attack. They were all rather chatty talking about how they are finally going to be able to move back into their homes after so long. Some were worried that other hollows might decide to join this fight, which may through their plan off. But Craig was worried about if they do defeat the menos will more come after that after they've settled down in the village. Chris answered that one saying that even if hollows do appear they'll have an advantage being on the defense so he needn't worry. Matthew was discussing the plan with Hikari, thinking it may be too simple but Hikari has always said the simplest plan is usually the best one.

At quarter to eleven, footsteps were heard coming down to the room. Everyone went silent. And finally Lewis appeared through the door, 'Ha ha, sorry guys, I forgot where I put my sword.' He looked around at the annoyed faces, 'erm… whoops, I guess?'

'Is that really all you can say? You've made us wait Lewis, and I don't like waiting,' said Colin in a deep scary voice, he looked as if he was ready to kill.

'Huh?' Lewis looked worried seeing Colin walking towards him, 'I guess you didn't find my joke funny then?'

'Well isn't that obvious,' said Colin with a homicidal look on his face.

'Ga ga ga…..' Lewis laughed nervously. 

Colin grabbed the handle on his sword, when Craig suddenly jumped in between them. 'Okay now Colin, calm down save your anger for the menos you may need it then.' A sweat drop dropped from Craig's forehead, he was nervous too, after all Colin was the second strongest of their group.

'Fine,' he let go of his sword and walked away, 'neither of you are worth my time.'

'Phew, that was close. Note to self, next time I plan on being funny don't do it in front of Colin,' Lewis thought.

'Good, now that everyone is gathered here let's just go over the plan once more and we'll be on our way,' Haodong walked in front of everyone, 'basically we approach the eastern quad of our village and take out the menos there. Who wants to lead off our attack?'

'Why don't we all attack together? Hit them hard at once you know,' asked Simon.

'Sure why not, whoever attacks first gets to kill them, sound good?' said Haodong. There was a murmur of agreement. 'Good, that's that sorted, let's go everyone, and meet back alive,' that last bit wasn't a joke, he was looking serious saying it.

They left the room through a circular staircase going upwards on a corner of the room. They approached a trap door on the roof of the staircase. Haodong, who was in front, opened it peered about and jumped out, everyone else followed. The night was still young, a glimmer of sunlight could be seen over the hilltops. The moon was out though and reflecting the sun as always giving the only source of light. Stars glinting above and looking down. The village was very close to the underground hideout, you could just about see the outline of it and some tall black shapes walking around which were obviously the menos. Matthew and Haodong led the way towards the village which had a large fence surrounding it.

'This fence is the borderline of the quads,' explained Matthew. Making his way around the fence towards some empty land where nothing grew, it was just like the desert isolated and barren. A large gate could be seen in the distance. 'And over there's the gate of the eastern quad of the village.' They quietly crept towards it, the wailing noises of hollows could be heard off into the distance. Green patches of land were inside the fence, outlines of houses glowed in the darkness. No light were on, it was pitch black. They had reached the gate, 'Ok stop here, I can just about make out the menos down there. So, we are all going to charge and attack, we'll take them out for sure this time.' He walked through the gate peeked around and turned round. 'Ok, it's all c-' he didn't finished. 

He wasn't alive long enough. A blood drenched blade stuck out of his chest, Ratiasu screamed. Matthew stood there, slowly looked down at the blade that had just impaled him. 

'Oh dear, I appear to have a sword sticking out my chest. I think I'm dying, argh,' he said, with the least bit of caring and coughed (it would have been funny if he wasn't actually dying). Blood sprayed out of his mouth when he coughed. Whoever stabbed him slowly took out the blade as blood oozed out. Matthew stood there for a second after the blade was out, dropped to his knee, collapsed and died. No one moved, everyone was either too scared or too shocked to move (apart from Haruka and Rukia who have already drawn their swords). A shadow appeared from behind Matthew, he walked into the light, it was another arrancar. He had a medium build, long black hair and wears normal arrancar clothing. His arrancar mask covers his right eye with a hole so he can still see.

'Who the hell are you?' shouted Haruka brandishing her sword.

'Me? I am ZeoOseomartir, 5th of the Wujian, lovely to have met you people. I just happen to be in the neighbourhood and saw you little insects creeping around obviously up to no good. So I thought I'd better dispose of you, but then I remembered I had to be off back to hueco mundo. Therefore, I thought I might as well kill one of you, call in the menos and then say bye.' He whistled and menos appeared all around them, there was about ten in total, 'I'd love to stay and kill, but I've got stuff to do, bye bye. Bugs.' He opened a gate to hueco mundo and disappeared into it. Chris ran to Matthew and listened to his heart, a second later he looked up and sadly shook his head.

'Dammit, this shouldn't've happened, not now.' Haodong looked up at the menos and put on an angry face. He pointed his sword at the menos, 'I'll kill you all. Take Flight, Hitori (bird of flames).' The sword didn't change but a flaming bird appeared above him that resembled a phoenix, but was just completely flames and nothing else. He directed his sword at a menos and the bird charged and made a massive impact on the menos, but the menos didn't die it just stepped backwards a few steps and fired a cero shot at them.

Haruka jumped in the way and shouted, 'Hado number 63, Roaring Thunder Cannon,' a blast of yellow energy collided with the cero and exploded (causing the menos to move back even more) forming a massive cloud of smoke between Haruka and the menos. When the dust cleared all you could see was haruka in mid-air shouting, 'Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo number 9, strike.' A red light engulfed the menos and it stopped moving completely, Haruka flash stepped forward and stabbed at the menos, 'Begone, Hado number 90, black coffin.' The black box formed round the menos and when it disappeared, the menos was destroyed.

'Hey thanks, I ap-' he didn't finish as he saw Haruka was pointing two fingers at him, 'hey hang on a minu-' 

'Hado number 54, abolishing flames.' 

Haodong covered his face ready for an attack but it didn't come, instead he heard a wail of a menos and looked behind him. Haruka didn't shoot at him, she shot at a menos behind him which was now in flames and disintegrated. 'That was a close one, you should always be alert and know what's behind you.'

'Wow, that was a close one, thanks again,' said Haodong.

Meanwhile a couple of metres away Hikari was having trouble with four menos that have attacked her at the same time. Fortunately Lewis, Craig, Simon, Haodong and Colin came to help.

'Smother, Kurosoeki (black plague),' shouted Colin, his sword disappeared into a gas cloud and it engulfed one of the menos, the menos squirmed around a bit and eventually stopped, and disintegrated, 'worthless,' he whispered.

The two menos beside the one he killed both fired cero at him.

'Destroy, Kuroshingari (black anchor),' shouted Lewis randomly jumping in. His sword extended into two anchors held together by a long chain, he spun them both at high speed and deflected both cero shots. Both menos stumbled backwards, at the same time Craig, Haodong and Simon flash stepped up in front of the menos and attacked the menos when it was off balanced killing it instantly by puncturing three holes in its head with their swords.

'Who said you could interfere? I could've taken those things,' whispered Colin through gritted teeth.

'Woopss, erm, well, sorry for saving your life,' said Lewis sarcastically.

'I didn't ask for it.' Colin advanced towards Lewis as the gas cloud followed him Lewis backed away slowly. 

Again Craig comes between them, 'Don't look now, but there's a menos behind you Colin.' He was right the other menos stood behind him and immediately fired a cero blast.

'Crap,' said Colin unable to dodge the attack until Hikari came in front of him.

'Die, you scum, Ben Dansu,' she shouted directing her blades at the cero shot. The menos had no chance the blades completely overpowered the cero and stabbed the menos in his face, it moved backwards due to the explosion. 

Ratiasu flash stepped in front of the menos just at the right time she said, 'The red moon will stir once more; the island will see no more daylight. Night will fall and all will be dark. Red eyes will be witnessed and the black dragon will awaken. Wave of destruction, number two: Blaze Hellfire Blast.' Fiery wires shot at the menos instantly killing it.

'Wow, nice shot,' said Lewis clapping.

Further to the north Rukia was fighting three menos with no help, the first one died almost as soon as they started because she flash stepped to its face and slashed it's head off. The other two was advancing on her firing ceros all the time. Rukia was on the defense the entire time those two were attacking so she really never had a chance to release her sword. Until Daniel came behind the both of them and slashed at them. This didn't kill them but it distracted them long enough for Rukia to release her sword.

'First dance, white moon,' the menos was completely frozen then shattered, the other menos tried to step on Rukia, she jumped out the way and, 'Next dance, white ripple' a huge blast of ice swallowed up the menos and shattered it as well.

'Hey thanks Daniel, couldn't have done it without you,' she said looking at him.

'No problem, just happy to help I guess,' he said smiling weirdly his smile disappeared when he saw another menos approaching from behind Rukia, 'by the way there's still one more menos behind you.'

She turned round and smiled, 'This'll be over quick,' she said getting ready to attack.

Daniel put a hand in front of her, 'No wait, let me handle this,' he flash stepped off. The menos again, (because they are dumb and know nothing else) fired off another cero blast, Daniel easily saw it coming and flash stepped to dodge it. He stopped straight in front of the menos' face. He smiled and pierced his sword straight through it's head. 'Piece of cake,' he whispered.

Suddenly another female voice came out of nowhere, 'Oh really?' a second later blood burst out of hundreds of slashes on his body, he dropped from the air and fell onto the ground. He tried to get up but when he did a female arrancar appeared before him, 'time to end your suffering,' she pierced him in the heart, Daniel wavered a bit then closed his eyes and fell silent. She pulled her sword out and turned to face Rukia. It was a female arrancar, she has long blond hair, her hollow mask is shaped like a tiara on top of her head. She has blue eyes and is of medium height.

'You killed him! You sick freak. THIRD DANCE, WHITE SWORD,' screamed Rukia, her sword broke into pieces and shot straight for the arrancar. There was a massive explosion and everything in the radius of thirty metres around the arrancar was frozen and ice. The cloud cleared and the arrancar was still standing there, not even scratched. Rukia was in total shock.

'Ha ha ha, was that your best shot? If it was then there's no need in killing you, it'd just be a waste of my time, and besides I've got better things to do.' At that moment everyone appeared by Rukia.

'Oh no, Sanders,' shouted Craig who was trying to reach him but was held back by Lewis.

'I'm sorry, I wasn't able to protect him, he's dead,' said Rukia with a depressed voice.

'You bitch arrancar, you'll pay for that,' screamed Craig, and he charged at the arrancar.

'No stop, she's too strong for you,' shouted Rukia, but it was too late, the arrancar and already fired a bala shot at him and he was flying back towards the group. He landed in front of Lewis who bent down and carried him behind everyone. Ratiasu followed them.

'Will he be ok?' asked Lewis, looking at the blood soaked Craig.

'He should be fine, it's just a flesh wound, and nothing got seriously damaged.' Ratiasu said healing Craig as she said it.

'That's a relief, losing two friends was already enough.' Lewis sat there unable to speak after that.

The arrancar walked away slowly, 'Well boys and girls, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got to run, it was a pleasure meeting you and knowing how weak you are.' She opened a gate to hueco mundo but before she entered she turned around again, 'By the way, my name is Circe Marreina. Don't forget it, I have a feeling we're going to meet again very soon.' She left, leaving them all to grieve over the loss of two friends.

The night passed and they buried Daniel and Matthew in the middle of the village, claiming them heroes who died for the good of soul society. Everyone paid their respects to the two dead warriors and stayed silent during the funeral. The wind blew slightly, as Haodong said a few final words of good-bye and rest in piece.

The morning arrived quickly, everyone slept uncomfortably in their own homes, (the four girls had a house to themselves). They all met at the western gate in the morning (it was closest to seireitei).

Haodong shook hands with Hikari. 'It was a pleasure to meet you four, I know out paths will cross again, after all we are in the thirteen squad, and when everything is back to normal we should have a drink together sometime,' said Haodong smiling.

'Yes, I look forward to that, but for now we need to get going, there's a lot of soul reapers counting on us,' said Hikari slightly blushing.

'I know you'll save everyone, kindness will always prevail in the end, I believe in you. Until we meet again, good luck,' said Haodong as a final good-bye. Hikari left, a bit red in the face, followed by Haruka, Ratiasu and Rukia. They waved good-bye and set off back on track again.

'I know we went off on a tangent to help those people out, but I think it was worth it, that Haodong person seemed like a nice person, I liked him, what do u guys think?' asked Hikari looking happier than ever.

'I think we should hurry it up and get to the second gate, we're not going to make it otherwise,' said Haruka.

'Yes, let's speed it up,' agreed Ratiasu.

'We should make it on time,' said Rukia.

'Whatever,' replied Hikari, everyone sped up their flash stepped and disappeared into the distance.

**I'm going to take a break over Easter so the next one will be posted up in two weeks, sorry.**


	15. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**** – Shattered Ice (****note: this starts immediately after the two groups' separated)**

'Ha ha ha, a ha ha, stop running, I only want to kill you,' shouted Kenpachi running after Rangiku, Toshiro, Byakuya and Renji. They ran off towards the other gate as fast as they could when they separated into the two groups, but however they run they just couldn't shake Kenpachi.

'Dammit, that Kenpachi, he's really annoying me now,' said Renji angrily. They kept running but also made sure that they could always able to see the wall of seireitei. Renji caught up to Byakuya, 'Captain, wouldn't it be easier to take him out then run away from him?'

'No, we mustn't waste our energy, it would take all of us together to take down Kenpachi and even then it might be a tough fight seeing as we can't kill him. We need to save our energy for the gate keeper. If there is one that is.' Renji sighed and kept running.

'Ha ha ha, what's the matter, too scared to fight me? Awww, poor you,' shouted Kenpachi still closely pursuing them.

'I think we should split up and hide our spiritual pressure. I know that Kenpachi's never good at tracking spiritual pressure so maybe we can get away from him that way,' said Hitsugaya looking frustrated at not being able to fight.

'That's a good idea Captain,' said Rangiku optimistically.

'Running away in separate directions and hiding our spiritual pressure to confuse him? Not my type of strategy I'd prefer to face him head on, but I guess it doesn't look like we have much of a choice. Captain Kuchiki, what do you think?' asked Renji thoughtfully. He slowed his running down a bit waiting for Byakuya to respond.

'Fine, we don't have a choice; I guess we'll have to do it this way. We'll meet at the gate.' They came up to a large hill, 'Renji, you and I will go to the right.'

'Matsumoto, we'll go left,' commanded Toshiro. 'Let's go.'

Byakuya and Renji flash stepped to the right of the hill and Toshiro and Rangiku flash stepped off to the left. Kenpachi arrived at the hill tilted his head and looked confused.

'Where the hell did they go? I can't even sense anyone's spiritual pressure.' He looked both ways, 'Hmph, so you wanna play tag eh? Well then so be it, I always enjoy a good game,' he thought as he licked his lips and he flash stepped off to the left of the hill.

Byakuya and Renji ran for a few minutes then stopped and looked back, 'Looks like he's not after us, I can't sense his spiritual pressure at all. Guess captain Hitsugaya's plan worked; well at least it got Kenpachi off _our_ back.'

Byakuya didn't look happy or annoyed though. 'Whatever, let's just keep moving. We need to make it to the gate by tomorrow. We'll worry about Kenpachi if he finds us, which probably won't happen.' They just walked on from then. The gentle wind guiding their way. They flash stepped off into the distance and disappeared from site, arriving on a hill a few hundred metres in front of the gate waiting for Rangiku and Rangiku to show up.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto kept running passing trees and grass fields as they went.

'Did we lose him?' asked Toshiro

'Doesn't look like it, I can still sense his spiritual pressure close by,' replied Rangiku.

'Damn that bastard, he doesn't know when to give up.' They raced through what looked like the countryside of seireitei, passing many villages on their way. Houses were burnt down and loads of hollows could be seen running around destroying whatever they could find.

'Such destruction, this is unforgivable,' said Rangiku looking at the crumbled houses and burning buildings. The hollows didn't take notice that two soul reapers were running around, but then again they were hiding their spiritual pressure so the hollows probably couldn't sense their presence.

'When we get rid of Hisaigo this'll all be over and everything will return to normal. This will all just seem like a bad nightmare,' assured Toshiro. They kept running for what seemed like hours until they finally came to a halt when the greenery ended. They stopped at the edge of a large patch of barren wasteland. It was all empty except for a large wall that blocked their way.

'What is this?' asked Rangiku

'I think this is the first layer of the seiretei wall. We've gone too far, we must've passed the gate about an hour ago. Just great, now we've got to go back.' Toshiro sounded annoyed. He looked back, 'Dammit, I don't know which way's which.'

'Wow, even the captain doesn't know where to go. Guess I don't have to either then,' Rangiku said happily.

'Grrr….' Toshiro glared at her, Rangiku back off a bit with a slight worried look on her face as she smiled nervously.

'Let's just walk one way and if we don't get there within a few hours we'll turn aground. OK?' Toshiro frowned at Rangiku asking her in a vicious way.

'Sure, whatever you say captain,' she answered nervously.

They turned to their left and started running again along the wall. An hour of running passed and all they saw was nothing but the massive white wall and barren land.

'Dammit, where is that blasted gate,' Toshiro's getting really annoyed now.

'Shall we try going the other way then, captain?'

'Geez, guess we'll have to.' They turned round and walked slowly for a bit. 'This is rather boring, can't something interesting happen?'

As if to grant him that request, a maniacal laugh came out of nowhere, they turned around and saw a spiky haired lunatic laughing his head off with a yellow spiritual pressure surrounding him, he was charging at them with an incredible speed.

'Ah ha ha ha, AH HA HA HA, I'VE FOUND YOU,' Kenpachi screamed pointing his sword at them.

'Crap, I thought we'd lost him,' Toshiro said. They jumped out of the way as Kenpachi stampeded towards them. He crashed into the gate because he was unable to stop and made a large dent in the seireitei wall.

'That's some insane strength he has,' thought Toshiro landing with Rangiku opposite Kenpachi.

'Argh dammit, we don't have time for this,' Toshiro turned around and was about to go the other way when Kenpachi flash stepped in front of him blocking the way.

'Don't have time for me? Well too bad,' Kenpachi sliced downwards aiming for Toshiro's head. Rangiku jumped in and blocked the attack. 'Two on one? I like those odds.' He had a massive grin on his face.

'Growl, Haineko,' Rangiku said, the blade disintegrated and the cloud of ash charged straight for Kenpachi. Kenpachi made no attempt to dodge and was blasted off his feet by Haineko and smashed into the ground a few metres away. The dust cloud returned to the form of a sword in Rangiku's hands.

'Ha, that showed him,' she said triumphantly.

She was about to sheath her sword, until Toshiro put a hand across her and said, 'Don't celebrate too early; Kenpachi doesn't go down that easily. If we started the fight we'll have to finish it, properly,' sighed Toshiro drawing his sword.

There was a laugh, Rangiku and Toshiro turned round to see that Kenpachi has already gotten back up. He smirked, 'Was that it?' he said wiping some blood from a wound on his chest. 'I doubt this'll even be enough just to keep me awake.' He slowly walked towards them, 'Now that you've had your attack, it's MY TURN,' he charged at them, also taking off his eye patch, 'time to go all out, ha ha ha ha.' Toshiro flash stepped in front of him and stabbed at Kenpachi, who flash stepped with a perfectly timed dodge, appeared behind Rangiku and attacked her from behind her. She instinctively turned round and blocked, but the shear force of his strength with all his spiritual pressure behind the attack was too much for Rangiku to handle and she was thrown back into the wall. The impact made a small dent in the wall and made a sickening crunching noise. She slid downwards landing facedown on the ground with blood dripping from her mouth. 'Well, that was easy,' said Kenpachi smiling to himself.

'Matsumoto,' shouted Toshiro flash stepping next to her, he felt her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that she was still alive. 'Damn you Kenpachi. To tell you the truth I always knew you'd be the one to kill everyone whether you're controlled or not. You are truly a demon. And you know what, I'm going to slay the demon and do everyone a favour.' He stood up, blue spiritual pressure glowed around him and he walked towards Kenpachi. 'You will feel the pain of death. Reign over the frosted frozen sky, Hyorinmaru,' he shouted. The ice dragon head shot out of his sword and went for Kenpachi.

'Hmph, and that was that meant to be?' Kenpachi didn't even look at the dragon he just raised his sword and stabbed straight through the dragon without taking any damage. He rushed towards Toshiro with the same stabbing attack. Toshiro flash stepped to the side and again attacked with his dragon. This time Kenpachi was hit by surprise and the dragon lifted him off his feet and froze him in mid air. Toshiro smirked but it was too early to celebrate as the ice broke and Kenpachi came out still looking unharmed. 'Now that was a nice cool feeling.' He shot like a cannon downwards, Hyorinmaru came at him again but he easily sliced through it and went for Toshiro. Toshiro blocked, both captains' spiritual pressures collided and exploded blasting the ground to pieces within a ten metre radius around them.

Toshiro was at the bottom trying to hold his defense until Kenpachi let go. The ground collapsed beneath him and he was forced to flash step back a few metres. Kenpachi instantly flash stepped behind him and attacked taking Toshiro by surprise and just enough to cut his arm a bit. Blood splashed to the floor next to him from the cut in his arm.

Kenpachi stood there for a moment, 'Looks like the fun's about to begin,' he launched himself at Toshiro and went into a barrage of attacks. Toshiro could just barely block them all. Toshiro flipped backwards to give himself some space but Kenpachi didn't let up and flew after him slicing and hacking with amazing speed. Kenpachi still laughing his head off didn't appear to tire; Toshiro couldn't get enough space or time between them to unleash his bankai. Kenpachi stopped attacking for a second and jumped up high into the sky coming back down about ten times faster smashing into the ground beneath him causing a small earthquake and crumbling the ground.

'Oh no, Matsumoto,' thought Toshiro looking back at Rangiku's limp body still lying there about to fall into the ground. He quickly flash stepped next to her picked her up, flash stepped away, and laid her on the ground. He stood back up, walked forwards and almost immediately had to flash step up because a crazy Kenpachi came slamming down his sword. Kenpachi followed Toshiro into the sky and attacked once more. Toshiro blocked again but for some reason Kenpachi's attack seemed far more powerful than before and Toshiro was knocked back a fair distance.

'What the? How did your strength go up?' asked Toshiro trying to stall for time to catch his breath.

'Ha ha, what's the matter? Can't handle my power? Well I don't like to keep secrets so I'll tell you what made me this strong.' Kenpachi pointed to the mark on his forehead. 'You see, this is the mark of Hisaigo, it gives all his followers more power, now let me show you how it works.' He screamed out a battle cry, the mark on his forehead glowed a bright white, Kenpachi's spiritual pressure immediately shot off the scale. His speed was massively increased and he attacked Toshiro with an all out attack, Toshiro didn't have time to dodge so he took it head on. They were in a weapon deadlock and for a moment it looked like Toshiro was pushing Kenpachi back. 'Ha ha, don't think so,' he screamed once more.

'Oh crap,' thought Toshiro as he felt Kenpachi's spiritual pressure shoot up once more. Kenpachi's yellow spiritual pressure glowed around him and he pushed Toshiro back, he used all his strength and broke the deadlock. Toshiro was wide open hanging in mid-air. Kenpachi charged slashed once more, Toshiro blocked but had no power behind it because he was in mid-air and was blasted back into the ground. He hit the ground with an impact of a meteor the ground shock and cracked beneath him a dust cloud arose and covered the grounds. Kenpachi landed in front of where Toshiro landed and waited for the dust to clear. The dust slowly blew out of the way and a huge crater came into view, Toshiro lay in the middle on the crater covered in blood and unconscious.

'Hmph, that was too easy.' Kenpachi walked up beside him, 'Time to end this and put you out of your misery.' He swung his sword upwards and sliced down going for the kill, a fraction of a second later he was blocked by an unknown blade.

'Sorry Kenpachi, you won't be doing any killing today,' said Renji, holding back Kenpachi's attack.

Kenpachi looked surprised for a second but then smiled. 'Ha, don't get in my way,' shouted Kenpachi raising his sword once more and slashing down. A big crash sounded when Kenpachi came in contact with the ground. Renji had quickly and quietly flash stepped, grabbing Toshiro with him, he appeared once again by Byakuya who just came into view standing next to Rangiku's body.

'Hmph, if I'd've known they were this weak it would've been better to stay together. Guess the past is the past,' said Byakuya who faced Kenpachi. 'Renji, get both of them to safety, I'll handle this.' Renji obeyed and flash stepped away carrying both Rangiku and Toshiro on his shoulders.

Kenpachi smirked, 'You'll handle this? That's some big words; now let's see if you can back them up.' Kenpachi charged but stopped almost immediately, because Byakuya had disappeared.

Byakuya appeared instantly above him, 'Scatter, Senbonzakura,' the blade pieces cut through Kenpachi as if he was made of foam. Blood splattered on the floor as Kanpachi dropped to his feet. 'I think I can beat you because you have just used up all your strength fighting Toshiro, you don't have enough strength left to fight me. Give it up, you don't stand a chance.'

Kenpachi was panting hard facing the ground, 'DAMMIT, I WON'T LOSE TO YOU,' he shouted using the power of the mark, his spiritual pressure went up a bit more, but all power has a limit, and he couldn't rise up more.

'It's futile,' Byakuya held his sword upside down (in his bankai position) dropped his sword, 'Bankai,' the large blades rose out of the earth and split into one thousand pieces. 'Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.' The thousands of blades drifting with the wind, he raised his hand, 'and now you will die.' The blades all gathered together into a ball shape and darted at Kenpachi who for some reason couldn't move, 'I guess you used too much of your power. Oh well,' Byakuya turned around just when the huge mass of blades smashed into Kenpachi. The blades flew back to Byakuya and disappeared. Kenpachi was on the ground, a pool of blood underneath him, is he dead, or is he still alive? Byakuya didn't care; he walked away, his haori fluttered with the breeze.

A minute later Renji was checking out Toshiro and Rangiku's wounds when Byakuya suddenly appeared.

'How are they?' asked Byakuya trying to sound like he cared.

'They'll be okay, their lives aren't in danger. We just need to get them to Ratiasu and they'll be fine,' replied Renji his voice was full of confidence.

'Well, that's good I guess.' Byakuya stood up and looked around, they were near the front of the gate but no one was around, 'hmm, looks like there's no one here, the two guards must be guarding the other door. Looks like we've had our fight for the day. How long is it until we're supposed to be here?'

'Right now actually, so the others should be fighting at the moment over on the other gate.'

'Guess we'll wait.' Byakuya walked up to the gate and stared at it, and then he walked back to Renji and stood there, waiting patiently.

--

Meanwhile on the other side, Haruka and the rest only just arrived at the gate. The stopped in front of the gate and stopped as they were confronted by two vice-captains.

'Intruders I see,' said one of them.

'They shall die, in the name of Hisaigo,' said the other.

'Oh dear, looks like we have company,' said Haruka sounding amused.

'And just after we've faced a load of menos as well. Well guess it can't be helped,' said Hikari drawing her sword.

'Aww, I really didn't want anymore bloodshed. But I guess this is unavoidable,' said Ratiasu though not sounding very convincing.

'Let's get this over with,' shouted Rukia.

Everyone drew their swords and readied themselves for the fight. No one moved, until a chilly breeze blew (before you ask, no, there isn't a ball of hay blowing across).

Hikari was the first one to break the silence. 'Sorry about this, my friend. But you're in my way,' she shouted. She held her sword high and screamed, 'BANKAI.'

_(note: the identity of the two vice-captains will be revealed in the next chapter, so keep reading)_

**Sorry for the wait, hope everyone had a good easter, mine wasn't too bad. Next chp next Wednesday, well it should be up at that time anyway**


	16. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**** – Breakthrough, the First Gate **

Hikari's sword changed into her bankai form, 'Gosai rozehana.' She launched many blades at the two vice-captains with great accuracy. They dodged so suddenly that it was unexpected (sort of like waiting until the last second type of thing). The blades crashed into the ground raising a vast dust cloud. Seconds past and the dust cleared. Both two vice captains came into view once more, unharmed.

'That was slow, even for you, captain Uera,' said Shuhei Hisagi, standing there like nothing has happened.

'Indeed it was. For once I agree with you Shuhei,' said Tetsuzaemon Iba who already has released his sword into shikai form and now a great falchion was wielded in his hands. He swung it over his shoulder and didn't look at all worried. 'This shouldn't be too hard. Shall we take them down Shuhei?'

Shuhei raised his fists, 'Let's go.' They both instantly vanished and appeared on either side of Hikari. Tetsuzaemon hacked down with his blade whilst Shuhei aimed a kick at her. Ratiasu flash stepped and blocked Tetsuzaemon's attack and Haruka flash stepped to clock Shuhei's kick.

Rukia stood there with her released sword and attacks, 'next dance, white ripple.' A stream of ice froze both Tetsuzaemon and Shuhei while Haruka, Ratiasu and Hikari flash stepped away so they are not in range of her attack. The ice shattered and they were both free again, although everyone expected as much. Shuhei charged without warning and landed a kick in Rukia's face knocking her out cold with one hit. She flew to the side, rolled over on the ground and lay still.

'Too weak, captain Kuchiki,' said Shuhei standing where Rukia was holding his sword. The Hisaigo mark on his head was flashing white.

He was about to do the finishing blow when he suddenly had flash stepped away because Ratiasu came in and tried to stab him in the back. 'Yeah, you get away from her,' she shouted after him. Ratiasu grabbed Rukia and flash stepped a far distance away to heal her. Haruka flash stepped by her and helped her carry Rukia. Meanwhile Hikari was fighting both vice-captains and isn't doing too badly, but then again all you could see were a blur of attacks and slashed and shooting blades.

'How is she?' asked Haruka, leaning over Ratiasu's shoulder.

'She'll be alright. There's barely any damage but she'll be out for a while. I'll stay behind you guys and look after her then. Try to keep them away from here.'

'Gotcha, keep them away.' Haruka turned the other way and watched Hikari's battle for a few second, 'Well since Rukia won't be here to see this. I think I should just finish them off.' She launched herself just when Hikari was about to get hit and blocked the attack.

'Thanks Rika, you came just in time,' said Hikari sounding relieved that someone finally came to help her.

'How are you feeling?' asked Haruka.

'A little tired now, but other than that I can keep going.'

'Alright, I want you to go and protect Ratiasu and Rukia, let me deal with these weaklings,' said Haruka holding out her sword as if she's about to release shikai.

'Oh, well go for it but don't over do it,' said Hikari taking the hint and left off towards Rukia.

'Hey, we're not finished here, captain,' shouted Tetsuzaemon running after her. Haruka quickly flash stepped in between them.

'You're not going anywhere, you're going to be a nice person and die, or get severely wounded and can't stand up, either way it's fine with me,' said Haruka.

'Ha, you sure talk big for a soul reaper who isn't even ranked,' said Shuhei dropping next to Tetsuzaemon.

'Oh, but I'm more powerful than anyone and I'm going to show you that power so watch closely and keep it a secret,' she held her sword up. 'Brighten the darkness, Hidoragon.' Both vice-captains were blow back by the sheer force of her spiritual pressure which exploded around her.

'What is this?' screamed Tetsuzaemon shielding his face with his hand. He didn't get another chance to speak for he was blasted away by a white arrow which just missed his stomach but pierced sides, blood sprayed out where he was cut. He fell out of the sky lay still on the ground with blood pouring out from his sides.

Shuhei stood his ground and saw Haruka walking up towards him, he instantly flash stepped behind her and tried to kick her but she saw it coming, pointed two fingers behind her effortlessly as if she expected that and said, 'Hado number sixty three, thunder roaring cannon.' A white burst of light shot out of her fingers and completely engulfed Shuhei. A few seconds past and the light faded, Shuhei floated there in mid-air, severely cut up. He dropped down out of the air and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

'Hmm, maybe I did go a bit overboard. Guess I shouldn't have released Hidoragon. Oh well, I can't reverse the past. What's done is done.' She picked up both bodies and carried them to where Ratiasu was resting.

'Oh great, more bodies to carry,' said Hikari sarcastically.

'I think we should dump them somewhere,' said Ratiasu jokingly.

'Terri,' shouted both Hikari and Haruka, annoyed.

'Only a joke, calm down.'

'I think we should heal up Tetsuzaemon and Shuhei, make sure they won't die and leave them here. When Hisaigo dies they'll be back to normal,' suggested Haruka.

'Sounds good to me,' agreed Ratiasu and started healing Tetsuzaemon and Shuhei but made sure that they'd still be unable to chase them if they wake up.

Minutes past and Shuhei and Tetsuzaemon were healed. They left both of them in front of the gate and set off with Ratiasu carrying Rukia on her back. They passed through the gate that was now wide open after defeating both of the guards. What's inside was exactly like the outside, barren brown land, nothing in sight except another giant wall about a few hundred metres in front of the first wall. They made their way slowly towards the second gate and took it in turns to carry Rukia. Still wasteland, just a massive plain of nothingness, empty. A light chilling breeze blew over the hard solid earth. It was all quiet, all calm. No one said anything as they walked, Hikari led the way. They arrived at the wall and stood before its vastness and dullness.

'Which way? Left or right?' asked Ratiasu stopping short of ten metres in front of the wall.

Hikari stood there for a while looked around stared at the sun with was just about to set, she then turned and faced the wall walked up close and said, 'This way.' Pointing to the left.

'O…kay,' shrugged Ratiasu. They set off left all three of them close by each other as it was getting dark and it was hard to see. 'Maybe we should stop for the night.'

'No we must press on, we'll rest after we meet up with the other group,' said Hikari firmly and they kept moving through the pitch black.

Ah hour past, nothing happened, they just kept walking, following Hikari. Another hour and still nothing.

'Are you sure this is the right way?' asked Haruka, 'We've been walking for hours and still haven't come across anything.'

'Don't worry, we're nearly there, just a few more minutes and we should have rea-' she was cut off when a large voice came out of nowhere.

'Stop there intruders. And prepare to die.'

(Go back in time to when Byakuya and Renji was in front of the gate)

Meanwhile Byakuya and Renji were still sitting there and suddenly they heard a click. Both jumped up swords at the ready only to see that the huge gate has swung open revealing the deserted land behind it

'No time to lose, let's go,' commanded Byakuya walking off. Renji picked up Rangiku and Toshiro and followed after him.

They walked one way for a long time seeing nothing interesting just a hard ground.

'Captain, are you sure we went the right way?' asked Renji looking tired after carrying Rangiku and Toshiro for ages.

'I don't have a clue actually,' said Byakuya calmly but honestly. Renji made a weird face and quickly went back to normal when Byakuya looked back, 'But I do know we are nearing the rest, I can just about sense their spiritual pressure up ahead.

'Good enough for me,' said Renji. Both carried on moving through, the sun beating down on them. There were no clouds in the sky, it was hot but a light wind blew over. Soon a giant gate came into view attached to another huge endless wall. They were about half a days distance from the gate.

'There it is, let's hurry,' said Byakuya who started running towards the gate. The sun had set and they still kept going, but before they were half-way there Byakuya stopped. 'Wait something isn't right. Their spiritual pressure disappeared. I can hardly see in this dark.' He peered around his current location and saw nothing. 'Either they just suddenly lost their way or they've been killed. I doubt it was the latter though.'

'Captain, what do you think we should do?'

'We press on, we need to rendezvous there and we are a bit early maybe that's why.' They carried on moving and were just about to near the gate when Byakuya suddenly stopped and shouted, 'Come out, whoever you are. I know you're there.'

'What?' said Renji who was completely bewildered.

'You have a good eye, captain Kuchiki,' boomed a voice above him and a shadow of someone descended in front of him.

**Next chp, next week.**


	17. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**** – An Unlikely Encounter**

The moonlight shone through the clouds and revealed the identity of the owner of the shadow. It was Vice-captain of squad three, Izuru Kira.

'Out on a walk this late at night Captain?' said Izuru advancing on him. Byakuya stared at him as if nothing had happened. 'Not going to say anything huh? Then I guess I just have to make you talk.' Izuru drew his sword and attacked.

'Captain,' Renji shouted a warning but Byakuya had already blocked the attack with the least bit of effort. Renji put Rangiku and Toshiro down and drew his sword. He was about to charge and attack Izuru when suddenly Byakuya held out a hand to stop him.

'Fall back Renji,' he said pushing off Izuru who jumped back, 'this won't take long.'

'You and that arrogance of yours. You sure talk big, but can you back it up?' taunted Izuru, 'Do you really think you can defeat me with ease? Well you are mistaken.' The symbol on his head glowed and a veil of spiritual pressure encased Izuru. 'Now, with all the power I obtained from Hisaigo I will show you that your idiotic arrogance will be you downfall today.'

'Thinking that you could defeat me is arrogance itself.' Byakuya appeared as calm as ever.

'Be quiet, I will take you down no matter what the cost, this is for HISAIGO,' Izuru screamed as his spiritual pressure level boosted upwards. 'Now let's see whose arrogance kills them first. Raise your head, WABISUKE' Izuru's sword took the shape of its released form.

'Hmph, I never said that your arrogance will be what defeats you today. What defeats you is the fact that you come no closer to me in power than an unranked officer. You can never hope to reach up to my level even if you had a million years to train.'

'I think you need to rethink and take back what you just said, otherwise you will die,' said Izuru who swiftly flash stepped behind Byakuya and attacked. Byakuya blocked but didn't even look back to do it, Izuru then went on to land a barrage of slashes and hacks but were all blocked by Byakuya. 'You really are a fool captain. But then again I've never told you what the ability of my zanpakuto is. Well allow me enlighten you, every time Wabisuke comes in contact with something else, it will double its weight each time. I think I must have hit you over ten times by now so is your sword feeling a bit heavy yet?'

Just as soon as he said that Byakuya's sword's weight went off the scale and he nearly dropped it, he stabbed it down hard into the ground, 'I see, that indeed is a useful power you have, however it's still not enough to beat me. As I have said before you come no closer to me in power than an unranked officer and you could never hope to narrow that gap. Now it's time to show you why that's the case.' The sword disappeared through a vortex into the ground. Massive blades emerged out of the ground and broke into millions of pieces. 'Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. And now you will witness our power gap.' The millions of blades rushed towards Izuru who quickly flash stepped out of the way but then the blades followed him and again he tried to move out of the way. 'It's futile, you can not hope to escape my blades.' The blades kept chasing Izuru who seemed to escape them every time. 'Very well, then let me speed things up a bit,' he raised his hand and started directing his bankai with twice the speed.

'Oh no,' thought Izuru who was suddenly swallowed up by the sped up blades and was smashed into the grounds.

After all the blades had returned to Byakuya a hole was revealed where Izuru had been bashed into the ground by millions of blades. Surprisingly he was still standing, drenched in blood, breathing heavily.

'Oh, you can still stand after that? I must commend you, but it's over now,' said Byakuya mockingly.

'I said I would defeat you, and I won't go back on my word,' panted Izuru pausing between every word.

'Too bad, I'm going to end it. Hado number four, Pale lightning.' A blue beam of lightning shot out of Byakuya's finger and pierced Izuru's chest. He screamed in pain and collapsed backwards. 'Don't feel too bad, you were never meant to beat me anyway.' He walks away to Renji. 'Come, let's find the others.'

'Erm, captain, shouldn't we heal him, I mean he is a comrade and he didn't mean to attack us, he's under Hisaigo's control. I think we should at least take him with us.'

'He lost one on one, in my eyes that is unacceptable. But do as you wish, I couldn't care less.' Renji picked up Izuru (carrying three bodies now) and followed.

'Who's there,' shouted Hikari frantically looking around where she was standing.

'Pierce, Gonryomaru,' said the voice and a shadow flew out of nowhere to stab Hikari. Haruka flash stepped behind her and parried the attack.

'That's some impressive skill you have, unranked soul reaper,' said Chojiro who came into view a few metres in front of Hikari.

'You know, that phrase is getting to be such a cliché, everywhere I go they always compliment me on being so strong even though I'm unranked. I think it really doesn't matter if you have ranks or not as long as you have strength you can choose whether or not to show off or be modest; so people shouldn't be surprised when they see a low or unranked being strong. Well that's what I believe anyway, and I chose to hide my skills if you hadn't noticed,' said Haruka, Chojiro pretended not to listen.

'Oh I'm terribly sorry, but I seem to have gone deaf a second ago and didn't hear what you just said, do you mind repeating it to me?' asked Chojiro sarcastically and with an insulting tone.

Haruka's face reddened with anger, she shouted 'Alright you moron, let's make one thing clear here. When I talk you listen, got it?'

Chojiro seemed to be picking his nails and didn't reply.

'Alright wise guy, I'm going to teach you some manners. THE HARD WAY,' shouted Haruka unsheathing her sword.

'Oh dear, she's mad. Hmm… maybe I should just back away, slowly,' thought Hikari edging bit by bit away from Haruka nearer to Ratiasu and Rukia (still unconscious, just to remind you).

'A challenge? I accept then of course,' said Chojiro moving into a stance.

'You'll be sorry you ever crossed paths with me,' bellowed Haruka, still angry as ever. 'Shine your light, HIDORAGON.' The sword changed and Hidoragon's released form is revealed, the darkened skies was pierced by the light emitted from Hidoragon.

'So you can release your sword as well, impressive. But I'm a vice-captain, you've got no chance,' and as Chojiro said that the mark on his head glowed and his spiritual pressure increased significantly.

'Don't get cocky you old hag, for I will rip that tongue out of your filthy mouth.' Haruka's spiritual glowed around her.

'You dare call me old, you bitch, I'm going to rip your head of and feed it to the hollows.'

'Oh boy, this could take a while,' whispered Hikari to Ratiasu.

'Yep, but we've still got time, let's just see how this turns out,' said Ratiasu sitting down getting ready for a long war of words.

Five minutes past and they're still at it, ten minutes went and then twenty.

'Oh this is getting boring now, when the hell are they going to start the fight?' moaned Hikari.

And as if to answer her questions Haruka screamed, 'YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE BASTARD, NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE.' She jumped up into the air and shot an arrow from her sword, Chojiro instantly dodged. The arrow missed and smashed into the ground with an explosion. Chojiro flash stepped and attacked from in front of Haruka, she blocked, flash stepped backwards and shot another arrow. Chojiro flash stepped to avoid it but Haruka appeared right on top of him where he finished flash stepping. 'Now I've got you.' She kicked hard at his head and sent him flying into the ground with a loud bang. 'You're dead. Hado number ninety, black coffin.' A black box suddenly appeared surrounded where Chojiro landed, and disappeared just as quick. A second later all anyone could see was a pool of blood below Chojiro.

Chojiro struggled to stand up, he used his sword for support and pulled himself half-way up. 'You are indeed powerful, good luck. You'll need it.' He collapsed and fainted.

'Hmm… I think you went a bit over the top with that black coffin Rika,' said Hikari now finally daring to walk near her.

'Well, he deserved it and besides Terri can heal this right?' she said looking at Ratiasu.

'Sure, no problem, but I'll be weak after this so. Do you promise to protect me?' replied Ratiasu

'Of course, what are friends for after all,' said a beaming Haruka.

Five minutes later Ratiasu had finished healing Chojiro and now he lay there just unconscious but not in any life threatening situation.

'So, leaving him here are we?' asked Ratiasu looking a bit pale.

'I guess so,' said Hikari. Ratiasu just suddenly fell onto her and fell asleep. 'Hey Terri you okay?' she shook Ratiasu but she didn't wake. 'Damn, does that mean I'm carrying Rukia _and_ Terri then?'

'Yep, I'll take care of the enemies you carry the wounded,' replied Haruka who was already advancing forwards.

Hikari sighed, 'Whatever.' She picked both bodies up and followed Haruka.

They walked for a while until Haruka stopped. 'Hey Kari, are we going the right way?'

'Yep, just keep walking and we'll see the gate in about ten minutes I reckon.'

'Ok sure what ever you say _captain._' She emphasized the word captain (no idea why, you could probably guess actually). They went the way Hikari said and soon they were able to make out the gate. They arrived at the gate a few minutes afterwards to meet up with Byakuya's group.

'Look who's late,' said Byakuya in a least caring way walking up towards them.

'To be fair, the two bodies on my shoulder kinds of explains it,' said Hikari laying Ratiasu and Rukia down.

'Are they both going to be alright?' asked Renji.

'Yep don't worry, Terri's just tired and Rukia's the same,' replied Hikari.

'That's good news. Terri needs to wake up sooner, Captain Hitsugaya and Rangiku both got injured.'

'Dear me, guess I've got more work to do,' yawned Ratiasu suddenly waking up and making everyone jump.

'Are you sure you should be healing just after you woke up?' Haruka walked up looking worried.

'Don't worry, I can handle it, and besides I'll fall asleep after I heal them two then don't disturb me cause I'll need the rest.'

'Fair enough.'

Ratiasu got up and started healing Toshiro and Rangiku.

'Well, doesn't look like we'll be moving out tonight. I guess we could all use the rest though,' said Byakuya but only half-heartedly.

'Yep, well goodnight, I'm gonna hit the hay, over there,' said Haruka pointing at the bit of wall.

'Guess I'll join ya,' said Hikari going with Haruka.

'I'll just sleep here then,' said Renji putting his hands under his head and lying down.

'Done yawn**, **I'm gonna just fall asleep right her…' Ratiasu trailed off, lay down and fell asleep straight away due to complete exhaustion.

The night was quiet, the stars were bright. The moon sparkled in all its white glory. Byakuya sat there watching Rukia underneath the sky and clouds. A beautiful, calm night if there was only peace it'd have made it that much better.

The sun rose slowly above the hills beyond, the shadows of the night faded into the light. There was little clouds in the sky floating about freely, the sun shone through them and brought light. Byakuya has finally fallen asleep and lay next to Rukia.

Renji was the first to wake, he yawned looked around and walked about stretching. Soon after everyone awoke and they were ready to set off through the second gate at last.

'I have a proposal to make,' said Byakuya walking around. 'I want Rukia to be in our group, does anyone object?'

'Heh, she is your sister, so sure. I don't see why not. I don't mind,' said Hikari looking around the others to see if anyone wanted to say anything.

'Ooooooooooh, has Byakuya finally gone soft,' thought Haruka laughing inside.

'Oh great more people,' exclaimed Rangiku.

'You sure you three girls will be alright?' asked Renji.

'No worries, anyway we'd better set off, the earlier the better,' said Hikari giving a thumbs up.

They walked through the second gate and witnessed a most unexpected scene. There were two paths, one off to the left, and one off to the right.

'Well, this is most unexpected. What should we do?' asked Byakuya calmly.

'Guess we'll have to split up again, alright how about we'll go to the right and you guys go off to the left?' said Hikari signalling for Haruka and Ratiasu to come with her.

'Sure, just be careful and don't die,' shouted Rangiku sarcastically as the three girls ran off the right path.

'Well then, there's no time to waste, let's go,' said Toshiro and he led the way to the left path.

They went for a long time without seeing anyone, just a few easy hollows which Byakuya easily blasted away with kido. It was just two walls on either side seemingly going on forever.

'Argh, how long is this damn wall,' shouted Renji after running for more than five hours.

'And you expect us to know?' said Rukia looking at him oddly. 'We'll have to keep going and see where it ends up as.'

Renji looked like he was going to burst out with something but decided to keep quiet. Another few hours past and still nothing, just a long pathway.

Until, someone walked forwards in front of them a few metres away. 'I'm sorry, I can't let you pass this point, but how about we have a drink?' not surprisingly it was Shunsui Kyoraku who said that.

'We don't have time to drink, get out of the way or prepare to die,' said Byakuya pulling out his sword, everyone else followed.

'I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but if you want a fight, I guess I must oblige,' said Shunsui, pulling out both his swords and making a stance, 'when the flower wind rages, the flower god roars, when the wind of heaven rages, the god of the underworld sneers.' Both his swords changed into large scimitar type blades.

'Hmph, this'll be over soon,' grunted Byakuya who didn't look the least interested. 'Scatter, Senbonzakura.' The blades glided towards Shunsui who flash stepped forwards, dodged and charged at Byakuya.

Renji flash stepped in front of his captain, 'Howl, Zabimaru.' He slashed forwards and Zabimaru shot out its segments at Shunsui who blocked and was knocked backwards.

'Reign over the frosted frozen sky, Hyorinmaru' yelled Toshiro who jumped above everyone and directed the dragon's head at Shunsui. It smashed into the wall behind him as he flash stepped out of the way.

'Growl, Haineko,' shouted Rangiku and a cloud of dusty rammed into Shunsui in mid-air. He did manage to block with his sword but the force of the attack smashed him into a wall. Drops of blood came out of his mouth.

'Not even going to give me a chance to attack? To be fair it is four against one,' said Shunsui.

'Actually, it's five,' said Rukia walking up, 'Dance, sode no shirayuki. Next dance, white ripple.' She fired a huge blast of ice which collided with Shunsui who didn't have time to block and was nailed against the wall by the ice. A second later, the ice shattered and Shunsui collapsed onto the ground with a small dent in the wall behind him.

'Well, that was easier than I thought,' said Byakuya now advancing towards Shunsui. He dropped his sword, 'Bankai,' a series of blades rose out of the grounds and shattered into millions of pieces, 'Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.'

A flash of white and gold haori flash stepped past them with lightning speed and stood between them. 'Please stop, don't hurt my cousin,' she shouted.

**Next Chp should be up next Wednesday, and i do say should cos my exams are nearing and i've been doing a lot more revision than i wanted, but still it should be up.**


	18. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Guess who's back?!**

Ratiasu, Haruka and Hikari rushed off towards the right hand path at maximum speed. All there was down the path was a wall that was about four hundred metres high and a concrete ground running for ages without end. No one spoke as they ran, just focused on running. They knew it was going to be a long trek and they were prepared for it this time. The sun's heat was beating down ever so hard, but the three girls felt no heat, they just concentrated on running and wouldn't stop until something interesting happens.

Occasionally a few hollows would jump out from no where and ambush them, but they would either run past it without even looking or blast it to pieces as soon as it appeared. Few hours later finally something happened.

They were running when suddenly two soul reapers jumped out of no where and stood in their way. They stopped running and after all that time showed no signs of tiredness.

'Well, well, that do we have here; a few traitors running down our alleyway? Seems like fun to me,' said Ikkaku casually waving his sword around.

'This is most ugly indeed,' said Yumichika in his usual girlish way.

'Look guys we're in a hurry so could you just clear out of the way, we don't want to hurt you,' said Ratiasu.

'My, my, such big words you're using, vice-captain Ratiasu. But we ain't moving anyway, we're here to fight you to the death.'

'We don't have time for this,' shouted Haruka.

'Oh but I think you'll make time.' Yumichika turned around and pointed at a large open gate. 'You see that gate? That's the gate to the third layer of this complex, and the only way to get there, is to defeat us. As you can see the gate is wide open, you see our master Hisaigo welcomes you to go past and enter into his palace, but we just wanted to fight anyway.' He drew his sword, 'Now prepare yourself cause I'm not going easy on you.'

'Exactly what he said. I'm going to enjoy this,' said Ikkaku also drawing his sword. 'Now, extend Hozukimaru.' His sword and sheath joined and changed into the three part spear.

'Bloom, Fuji Kujaku,' Yumichika's sword split into four sickle shaped blades, as he made a stance and prepared to fight.

'A bunch of weaklings, let's make quick work of them and get on with it,' said Haruka drawing her sword and steadied herself.

'I agree, let's go. Blossom, Rozehana' said Hikari and blades rose out of the guard and starts to encircle the handle.

'Erm, do you mind if I don't participate in this? I'd rather heal you when you're injured, rather than fight,' said Ratiasu backing off to give them room.

'To be honest Terri, I actually didn't want you to fight now. No offence but you just don't have the killing instinct and they'll need healing when we're through, so yeah don't fight if you don't want to cause you'll just end up getting hurt,' said Hikari. Ratiasu backed off, Hikari looked at Haruka, 'you ready?'

'Do you even have to ask?' Haruka frowned. Hikari smiled and immediately flash stepped to attack Ikkaku. He blocked with the least bit of effort, 'split apart,' his spear split into three and one part nearly caught Hikari but she skilfully parried the attack and was able to attack for a second hit in which Ikkaku had no choice but to jump up to dodge. She followed him up into the air and started shooting blades at him.

Meanwhile, Haruka and Yumichika were having an extremely fast sword fast flash stepping everywhere, their blades a blur. Neither of them seemed to be winning it all seemed quite even, nobody broke the rhythm they just kept swapping blows after blows. Neither used any kido or abilities of their swords (then again Haruka hasn't even released hers yet). At one moment it looked like Haruka's attack knocked Yumichika into an opening but he just quickly turned and striked back. Their fight doesn't look like it was going to end anytime soon, so let's get back to Ikkaku and Hikari.

She flash stepped behind him and slashed, he blocked and attacked with the other end of his three part spear. She jumped out the way and pointed a finger at him, 'Hado number four, pale lightning,' a white beam shot out of her fingers and barely grazed Ikkaku's shoulder when he jumped out of the way. 'Now I've got you, Ben dansu,' she shouted aiming her sword at him. He flash stepped away but the blades follow him and eventually smash into him with a bang. He fell down hard onto the ground, with blades still sticking out of him and blood trickling out of the wounds.

'Dammit, how could I lose?' Ikkaku choked.

'You charge into a battle, blinded. With no strategy whatsoever, how do you expect to win? Real battles are fought with the mind, not the sword. Remember that, it may help you someday.' She walked away to Ratiasu and Ikkaku fainted.

'Well, time for you to work your magic Terri,' said Haruka.

'Yes indeedy,' Ratiasu started healing Ikkaku. The battle between Haruka and Yumichika rages on.

Haruka for whatever reason seemed to have slowed down her attacks and aren't looking as sharp (no, yumichika hasn't absorbed her spiritual energy if that's what you're thinking). She seems to be blocking more than attacking and even her blocks are getting sluggish.

'What's wrong Haruka? Can't keep up with my attacks?' taunted Yumichika.

'Oh dear me, I seem to be falling asleep on my foot,' thought Haruka, 'not now, anytime but now.' She yawned and was able to recover just fast enough to block another hit.

'Rika, you okay?' shouted Hikari over the sound of the blades.

'No prob-' she didn't finish as Yumichika placed a fast hit and she didn't have time to block and Yumichika's blade struck a large gash in Haruka's shoulder. She shrieked in pain and fell on her back and, strangely enough, fell asleep. Yumichika jumped above her and charged down with a finishing blow, 'You're done,' he shouted.

'Oh no, this isn't good,' said Hikari and flash stepped to her rescue blocking the fatal attack.

'Don't interrupt,' shouted Yumichika attacking Hikari now who quickly gathered up Haruka and flash stepped to Ratiasu.

'Take care of her.' She nodded her head in Yumichika's direction, 'I'll take care of him,' she said and moved back into the fight with Yumichika.

She rejoined the fight as fast as lightning and was hacking at Yumichika at high speed. Yumichika looked like the battle with Haruka had taken its toll on him as he was slowing down and looking tired. Though Hikari also may have just had a battle she still looked good as new. A slash here and a swing there and Yumichika was forced back against a wall completely cornered.

'No where to run or hide Yumichika. Time to die,' Hikari said raising her sword high.

Yumichika for whatever reason, smiled, 'to die like this beautifully in the heat of battle would have been nice, but I'm afraid I won't be going anywhere today.' The guard on his sword and everywhere around it glowed including the symbol on his head. 'Now it's time to show you the true extent of my power.' A flash of light blinded them and vanished just as fast. Hikari was lying on the ground unconscious and Yumichika by her looking as fresh as ever. 'Aww, poor you captain Uera, you look ever so pretty when you're asleep. Ha ha ha.' A quick flash of her sword and blood was spraying out of Hikari's side. He slashed again but was blocked by Ratiasu.

'Sorry, but I need to go,' said Ratiasu who grabbed Hikari and the Haruka and raced at the speed of light towards the gate at the other side.

Yumichika was hot on her trail but even carrying two bodies Yumichika was no match for Ratiasu's immense speed. She was flash stepping with the least bit of effort stepping off the walls and the floor. Her scarf wavering behind her all the while as she flash stepped. They passed the gate at high speed with a few hollows coming to block her way due to Yumichika's command. She pulled out her sword flash stepped and slayed the hollows with ease and ran through the next bunch. It looked like she was about to lose Yyumichika when she suddenly came to a set of stair and someone descended down the stairs. He stood there at the foot of the stairs blocking her way (oh the suspense, I wonder who it'll be).

Yumichika caught up a minute later and stood there blocking the other way panting. 'Looks like it's the end of the line for you, Ratiasu,' he said a glimmer of victory in his eyes.

Ratiasu laid both bodies down and took her stance. She quickly flash stepped to attack Yumichika who blocked instantly. She flipped over him and attacked again, this time he jumped backwards. Yumichika charged, Ratiasu flash stepped at her side and went for the arms only to be blocked. Yumichika flash stepped in front of her and attacked, she flash stepped to dodge appearing behind her and slashed. Blood sprayed out from where he was cut and Ratiasu jumped away.

'Not bad, I must say. But then again I didn't expect anything less from a vice-captain. You are indeed very fast, I admit I can't keep up with you. So now let's see how you do when you have no spiritual pressure.' Yumichika's blade glowed again along with the symbol on his forehead.

'Not this time,' thought Ratiasu. She held her sword in front of her and whispered one word, 'flash.' A second later Yumichika lay on the floor, a puddle of blood beneath him. A huge sword wound in her back.

A clap was heard behind her and Mayuri was walking slowly up towards her, 'Impressive speed you have there Ratiasu. Yes, yes, an interesting specimen, how would you like to come as my test subject? I promise it'll be painless.'

'Ugh, you're gross just get away from me,' she said backing off barely having the energy to stand up.

'How about this then? We have a fight, and if I win you come with me. How does that sound?' she didn't answer. 'I'll take your silence as a yes then.' He drew his sword. 'Claw out, Ashisogi Jizo.' His sword changed to it's shikai form with a baby's head for its guard and three twisted blades coming out of it. He charged, she parried and went for a counter attack only to have Mayuri sticking out his sword from underneath his haori and striking her in the back. A sudden numbness rushed throughout her body, she dropped her sword, fell and lay still, unable to move due to paralysis.

Mayuri signed, 'What a shame, I was hoping that we could work as friends, but guess that's not meant to be. Oh well, let's get this over with.' He raised his sword, Ratiasu closed her eyes, defenceless, awaiting the inevitable, tears flooded her eyes, she thought about her friends, how she failed them. (Life flashing before your eyes type of thing). And then she thought about Ketu, how she was never going to see his happy smiling face again. There was a sound of the swing of a blade and then the whoosh of the wind and silence, a minute or so passed and Ratiasu dared to open her eyes, Mayuri had disappeared, her numbness had gone. She turned around and saw the joy of her life. There was Ketu, one hand pointing in front of him waking towards Ratiasu his haori wavering in the wind. He was smiling, Ratiasu looked behind her and realized that Mayuri had been knocked out cold and trickles of blood were going down his face. She easily recognised Ketu's bankai, but it looked so much more powerful this time and so much faster.

'Guess he didn't waste all that time he was gone,' she though.

'Terri, my love. It's been so long, I thought I'd never meet you again,' his voice was full of happiness and joy. But Ratiasu looked a bit angry, she rushed towards him. 'My darling, I-' she had ran up and slapped him with tears now streaming down her face. His expression didn't change, 'I guess I deserved that,' he said touching where she slapped.

'You bloody well did, taking off like that, didn't you ever consider how I felt? How could you leave me behind? How could you leave me alone? You, you, you insensitive, obnoxious, arrogant, insolent, git. How dare you even have the face to see me again?' She paused and you could see tears sparkling from the corner of her eyes. 'I thought I had lost you, you don't know how worried I was. I waited and waited and you never came back. To show up here, now. I, I….' She trailed off and buried her face in Ketu's chest crying her eyes out.

'I'm truly sorry to have worried you, I never meant to, I went away to become stronger so I could protect you in the future.' He stroked her hair, and she seems to have calmed down a bit. 'I hope we can put the past behind us and carry normally again. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. I make a vow here and now to never leave your side again, even if it costs me my life. Please Terri, give this poor person another chance.' Ratiasu lifted her head and looked at Ketu, she could see sorrow and sadness in his eyes and knew that he was truly sorry.

'I, I forgive you,' she sniffed (a bit fast to forgive someone that just abandoned her I know but, that's the kind of person she is, can't stay mad at anyone for very long especially Ketu. Young love, isn't it great?). 'But if you do leave me alone again, I'm gonna hunt you down and kill you myself,' she said jokingly but with a serious tone.

'I wouldn't have it any other way.'

And there they stood smiling at each other for a long time unable to believe that they were at least reunited, it was indeed a blissful oblivion (that does mean happiness right?). (Hmm… They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, looking at these two, I'd say it's true. Don't you agree?).

A sudden maniacal laugh broke them apart, and they both gazed around to see where it was coming from. 'Awww, so sweet, young love. I guess I should break this up then,' the voice was obvious now; it was Kenpachi's (yes, he is healed up and ready to rock again), but still there was no sign of him.

'Come out where ever you are, hiding like this isn't what you normally do now is it?' shouted Ketu his voice echoed around him giving an ominous feeling.

'You asked for it,' boomed the voice of Kenpachi and suddenly the ground started shaking. It was like an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7, the ground beneath them seems to break away and scatter into many pieces. Ratiasu held on tight onto Ketu and they both manage to stay standing during the earthquake.

'Where did that come from,' asked a bewildered Ketu looking around him.

'No idea, we should just grab Kari and Rika and go,' replied Ratiasu already moving to retrieve Haruka and Hikari.

Ketu followed behind her, but just as she was about to get them Kenpachi appeared in the sky above her screaming in laughter.

'A ha ha ha, I don't think so. Ratiasu.' He crashed into the ground with a massive impact and generated a huge explosion. Hikari and Haruka both went flying in two separate directions into other parts of seireitei and disappeared into the distance (it's like a nuclear bomb here). Ratiasu screamed as she was blown into the air. Kenpachi took that chance and stabbed her through the stomach and she soon fainted and was falling back to the ground. Ketu had already released his sword, but he didn't even try to fight Kenpachi because he knew he had to get Ratiasu away to safety first. He manipulated the wind to be able to fly at high speeds. He flew and grabbed Ratiasu from mid-fall and raced away into the horizon and soon he was out of sight.

Kenpachi stood there with an ugly smirk on his face, 'Tut, tut, running away like that and you call yourself a captain. What a wimp.' He looked around him and signed, 'That Mayuri, can't even take care of himself.' He walked over to him and picked up Mayuri, 'time to go, our master is waiting,' and he flash stepped out of sight as a chilling breeze swept over the broken land.


	19. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 – The Trio Returns (****continued from chapter****15)**

'Please, don't harm him,' begged Crystal. She shielded Shunsui with her arms and stopped Byakuya and the others from attacking.

'Hey lil' cous, nice to see you again,' Shunsui greeted her kindly but with a tiny tone of sarcasm.

'Get out of the way Crystal, it's nice to see that you're safe and sound, but that Shunsui there isn't the Shunsui you know. He's been turned evil by Hisaigo and is now under his control. So move out of the way if you know what's good for you,' shouted Renji, signalling her to move out the way.

'No please, I know that he's controlled, but maybe I can turn him back. I know he'll listen to me, give me a chance.'

'Do what you must, but when you fail you're going to clear off. Got it?' said Toshiro.

'Fine,' she turned around and faced Shunsui, who still had his sword unlowered. 'You don't want to do this Shunsui, you're under a spell, try to break out of it.'

Shunsui looked at her as if she didn't say a thing, 'Look Crystal, I don't want to hurt you as much as you don't want to hurt me, just step out the way and we won't have to hurt each other. But if you stand in the way, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you.'

'I'm not going to move. You're not yourself Shunsui, break out of the spell, I know you can do it.'

'You assume too much,' said Shunsui and he immediately flash stepped past Crystal. A deep gash appeared on Crystal's shoulder as blood busrt out, she didn't utter a sound, she just closed her eyes and collapsed on the ground, her hair wavering helplessly as she fell. Blood poured from her shoulder like an endless river. 'Sorry cous, but I did what I must, what I was ordered.'

'There was no need for that Shunsui, cutting up your own cousin, unforgivable,' said Byakuya with disgust.

'She got in my way. What can I say, I did what I was ordered to do, kill the intruders and bring them to my master.'

Byakuya hissed in disagreement, 'You, following orders? It's been a _very_ long time since that happened. You've changed, for the worse.' Shunsui didn't say anything, he stood there so still like he wasn't really there. 'Whatever, you're going to die anyway, ban-.' Shunsui's sword just suddenly appeared out of no where and pierced Byakuya from the back, who coughed out blood as Shunsui pulled the sword out.

'Captain,' shouted Renji rushing over to support him.

'What was that?' asked Byakuya barely able to make his words clear.

'That, my friend, is a skill called shado-sanpo (shadow - walk). It creates a shadow clone of me in one place to distract my opponents while I can sneak up behind them and surprise attack,' Shunsui explained with a glee in his voice.

'Sneaking up and attacking people from behind? That's low, even for you,' said Toshiro with a sign of disapproval. Shunsui shrugged and flash stepped back in his original position in front of them.

Renji supported Byakuya along with Rukia supporting Crystal. They went away from the battle as Toshiro and Rangiku readied to face Shunsui.

'Growl, Haineko,' said Rangiku releasing her zanpakuto first and charged the ash cloud at Shunsui. Surprisingly the cloud went straight through him and Shunsui didn't move an inch when the attack was coming, Rangiku immediately knew what happened and shouted a warning to her captain, 'Captain, behind you.'

Toshiro reacted with quick reflexes and blocked an attack from Shunsui, 'Not bad,' said Shunsui, 'Did you see it coming or did you hear your vice-captain's warning?'

'Both actually,' said Toshiro pushing Shunsui off him. Shunsui jumped back and flash stepped again to hit Toshiro who dodged.

'Reign over the frosted frozen sky,' shouted Toshiro, the ice dragon's head shot at Shunsui who disappeared just before he got hit and appeared behind Toshiro. The head followed Shunsui and just made it before Shunsui attacked. He flash stepped again to dodge, the head just followed wherever he flash stepped to. They were at it for a while as Shunsui kept dodging and Toshiro stood there directing the head and attacking.

'This little game is getting old,' shouted Shunsui and he stood still and allowed the ice dragon to hit. The head smashed into Shunsui's sword and split in two on the sword. 'Ha, if I knew you were this weak I would've taken you out straight away.

'What did you say,' shouted Toshiro annoyed.

'You heard me,' his sign glowed and he vanished instantly, a fraction of a second later a wide gash appeared on Toshiro's chest and he dropped out of mid-air and crashed into the ground.

'Captain,' screamed Rangiku rushing over to help him when, out of nowhere Shunsui appeared in front of her.

'You're not going anywhere, pretty,' Shunsui attacked. A dust cloud appeared in front of him and blocked the attack. Matsumoto flash stepped above him and attacked down. He flash stepped forwards to dodge turned around and slashed blindly. Rangiku's ash cloud stopped the attack and she took the chance and sliced Shunsui arm. Blood splashed out of where he was cut. Shunsui smiled at her and didn't even look at his arm, but instead freed his sword and stabbed her in the stomach. Rangiku gave out a short cry and keeled over coughing out blood. Shunsui smiled to himself, 'Piece of cake.' He walked away from her and went to Toshiro and was about to deliver the final blow to him when, Renji came in and blocked the attack. 'Another one eh?'

'Can't you take a hint and leave?!' Renji shouted insultingly.

'I don't take kindly to insults,' he said shortly and pushed Renji off easily and sliced him in the arm. Renji screamed out in shock and backed off. 'Don't get in the way.' Shunsui went after Renji and stabbed him just missing the heart. Renji had a blank expression on his face and collapsed next to Toshiro, eyes still open with an expression of the utmost shock. Shunsui kept on walking, towards Rukia, who was carrying her brother.

She unsheathed her sword, 'Get back Shunsui, I will kill you otherwise.'

'Such bold words, but you have no power to back it up.' He kept on advancing towards her holding out his bloodied blade. 'Orders, are orders.' He vanished instantly and appeared behind Rukia, 'too slow.' He then attacked. Suddenly, a black sickle shaped kido attack came out of nowhere and knocked Shunsui into the sky.

'You've done enough,' said a familiar voice, (Raven) who came into view in the distance holding his scythe, down the path. 'You dared to hurt my Crystal, you will die.' He held out his hand and chanted quickly, 'Clinging to your every breath. Demons rise from below. Black smoke and toxic fumes. The sun is covered by a black cloud. Night falls, as will all who rest below the purity_. _Hado number 78, Creeping Plague.' A huge black cloud appeared all around Shunsui and started choking him.

'What kind of kido attack it this?' Shunsui shouted in astonishment. Raven didn't answer, he stood there with his hand outstretched watching emotionlessly as Shunsui choked and went unconscious. Naomi joined his side a second later and did nothing but watch. Shunsui fell to the ground and didn't move another muscle.

'Don't you ever dare come near Crystal again,' he whispered fiercely and turned to Rukia, 'I think you guys should back off, the people ahead will only be stronger and everyone is injured, you should take them to a safe place and heal up. Me and Nai will carry on,' he said with a small hint of compassion in his voice. He was about to walk on when, 'Oh, I'll be taking care of Crystal, so don't worry about her. And get away from Shunsui, I didn't kill him but I left enough poison in him so that he won't be waking up for at least another five days or so, so get away from here and find a place to hide. If you all feel better then catch up as soon as you can.' Rukia didn't make a sound, she just nodded in agreement. She didn't have a choice really, everyone was unconscious and she couldn't just leave them.

Raven walked up to Crystal knelt over to look at her, 'Sorry Crystal, I was too late. But I will make it up to you,' he grabbed her around the waist and carried her on his shoulders. He turned around to face Naomi 'Let's go Nae, there's a debt I need to repay, and you know how I hate having debts to people.'

Naomi smiled, 'Sure do bro, now let's not waste anymore time.'

'Agreed.' And they both flash stepped off into the distance.

Rukia stared in disbelief to see Raven, Crystal and Naomi back again, and in amazement to see Raven's kido attack so well perfected and mastered. She shook out of her shock and gathered up all the bodies She had already thought of a place they could all hide and was about to set off with them until she thought one last thing, 'That Raven, he didn't waste his time while he was away, two captains and vice captains couldn't even take out Shunsui, yet he did it with one move. How powerful has he become? I wonder what else he's learned. Guess I won't be here to see them but, I guess it's for the best.' And she was off.

_how she's going to carry Rangiku, Renji, Toshiro and Byakuya is beyond me, but… well… who knows, she's going to manage somehow, but I'm not going to explain it, and where she's going is beyond me as well, anyway._

**Anyway next chp should, I say 'should' again, be up next week same time.**


	20. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 – Ketu, A New Power and Past The Sea of Menos (****Continued from chapter 16, sorry about this jumping of chapters by the way)**

Drip, drip, drip the sound of water was enough to wake anyone up and it was no different for Ratiasu, she slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was lying down in a makeshift bed (just a thick mattress) with a blanket on top of her. It was a dimly lit room with nothing to accompany it. The door was opposite her, except there was no door there just a large whole where the door should be. Pipes interlinked with the ceilings dripping water through its leaks the walls and ceiling was coloured in a dark red colour and it was rather damp.

'This place is familiar. Hmm... I wonder where I've seen this place before,' she thought glancing round to try and make out where she was. She looked down and realized that someone had changed her clothes and she was wearing clean dry ones now. Suddenly slow footsteps noises sounded outside and she got up immediately grabbed her sword which was next to her bed. She unsheathed it and stood in a ready position as the footsteps gradually got louder. Until a face turned into the room, Ratisu breathed a sign of relief when she saw Ketu walking in.

'Agh, don't kill me,' said Ketu stopping and backing off a bit with a sarcastic face. Ratiasu smiled and sheathed her sword. Ketu walked towards her and directed her to lie down. 'You may be awake but I don't think you're strong enough to just start walking again. You need your rest, it's safe here.'

Ratiasu didn't know what to say so she asked the first questions that came to her mind, 'Where are we? And did you change my clothes?'.

'We are in the underground pipe systems, where I've noticed that no one goes, so this is the perfect place to hide, and as to your other question, yes I did change your clothes I brought them from your house, I visited just before then, I hope you don't mind.'

Ratiasu's face went bright red, 'No… no of course I don't mind.' She took a deep breath and calmed herself, 'so, do you know what happened to the others? All I remember is Hikari and Haruka blasting off in different directions.'

'Sorry, I don't know where they went, I was too worried about you, I'm sure they're fine, after all, Rika is the strongest out of our group and I'm sure Kari can take care of herself.'

'Yeah, you're right, I need to be more optimistic.' She stood up and walked around the perimeter of the room. 'We need to get going, our friends may be in danger.'

'No, no, no, we're not going anywhere until you're feeling much better, and as you probably know my healing techniques aren't exactly the best so I wasn't able to heal you properly so I don't think you should be moving around.'

'But Ket,' she began, but Ketu put a finger to her mouth to shush her.

'Listen, if you go out in that state you'll just get seriously injured again and I'm sure Kari and Rika wouldn't want that, and neither would I. So just rest up and take it easy for the time being.'

'Alright,' sighed Ratiasu in defeat. 'What about you?'

'I don't know, probably stay here, I doubt that anyone's going to bother us down here.' And just as if to disagree with him the ground shook and Kenpachi's all so familiar laugh filled the underground.

'Hide and seek eh? A ha ha ha ha, I love this game, come out, come out where ever you are,' shouted Kenpachi at the top of his voice smashing anything he saw.

'Guess I spoke too soon,' said Ketu who stood up, 'come on Terri, we need to get out of here.' He grabbed Ratiasu's hand and guided her out of the room. The underground was like a maze of tunnels, Ratiasu had no clue as to where they were going, but Ketu seemed to know his way. They weaved left and right in the tunnels and didn't look like they were going anywhere until Ketu stopped.

'There,' he said pointing at what looked like a manhole cover above them. Ketu went through it first and helped Ratiasu climb up.

'Where are we?' asked Ratiasu as she climbed out of the underground into the bright sunny daylight. It looked exactly like where they last fought Kenpachi but all the debris from the fight has been cleared.

'This is the path that leads to the fourth gate.' He grabbed Ratiasu's hand once more and raced towards some stairs that was directly in front of them, there was nothing else there except for four large walls that boxed the place in.

They didn't get far up the stairs before Kenpachi catches up from behind them. 'I found you, game's over. You lost.' He said laughing as well and he flipped to the front of them. 'Sorry kid, I can't let you pass here. But I will let ya, if you defeat me. You should know by now, I always enjoy a good fight. So, what do ya say?' He gave a vicious and crazed smile and licked his lips.

'So be it,' said Ketu he drew his sword out in a flash. Ratiasu did the same but Ketu put a hand across her. 'No, you still haven't recovered yet. Stay back, this won't take long.'

'Please Ketu. You can't do this along, he's too strong.'

'Don't you have any faith in me?'

'Of course I do, but…' She knew it was no use trying to convince him so she resheathed her sword.

'Your faith is all I need.' Ketu immediately flash stepped further up to face Kenpachi. 'Stay in a safe place Terri, this fight may get ugly.'

'Good luck Ket,' she whispered as she went to find a suitable place to hide. 'I need you in one piece, you got that.'

'Whatever you say, my love.' He held his sword up.

'Finished chatting yet?' asked Kenpachi with an annoyed tone.

'Yep.'

'Then let's get started.' Kenpachi launched his first attack in which Ketu dodged without even trying and flash stepped a bit backwards.

'Time to show you what true strength is.' He chucked his sword up in the air and as it span he shouted, 'BANKAI.' A huge mass of spiritual pressure exploded from Ketu. A huge wind blew like a hurricane above Ketu which took the form of a dragon. 'Kazetatsujin.' He waved his hand in the direction of Kenpachi and the dragon shot at him like a bullet. Kenpachi had not expected an attack so quickly so he could only try and block. The dragon swooped through him (sword can't block wind now can it?). And then the dragon returns to its original position above Ketu's head.

'That's some strength you have there,' said Kenpachi who dropped to one knee and about a hundred cuts appeared on him at the same time blood dripping from each one. He laughed the pain off, 'Not bad, not bad at all. But still, you're defenseless.'

Kenpachi charged forward (still laughing like a maniac) whilst Ketu stood there showing no signs of panic what-so-ever. Kenpachi put his immense strength into his blade and striked at Ketu hard, the blade somehow stopped a few inches short of harming Ketu as if there was an invisible barrier blocking the way.

Kenpachi's smile disappeared, 'Huh? So what's this?' he asked pulling his sword back and slashed down again blocked by the same barrier.

'This barrier you mean? This is a barrier I perfected during my long absence away, it concentrates the air around me and raises its density so high that it's almost solid, it is constantly flowing like the wind and can stay there for as long as I need it to. Don't bother trying to over power it, I know you're strong Kenpachi, but not even you can penetrate this barrier, known as the Wind Screen.'

'I can't break it? Is that so? Well, I disagree,' said Kenpachi who took off his eye patch. 'I'll fight you with full power and then we'll see who can't break who.' The sign on his forehead also glowed. He burst out laughing and put all his strength in one attack and smashed into the Wind Screen causing a huge explosion.

'KET,' screamed Ratiasu coming out from where she was hiding, but she didn't dare go any closer because she didn't want to break her faith in him. Kenpachi smirked.

The dust cleared and the next scene was almost unbelievable. Kenpachi's smirk had disappeared and now he had a face of worry, his sword had come in contact with the Wind Screen, but only the Wind Screen. It had stopped the sword and Kenpachi's humongous spiritual pressure. Ketu stood there behind the Screen with a smile across his face, 'Ha ha ha, a ha ha ha ha,' he laughed and continued laughing like he had a fit. Ratiasu had the expression of 'what the hell' on her face and Kenpachi backed off. 'A ha ha ha ha (2 minutes later) ha ha, ohhhh, it's not that funny,' he said wiping tears from his eyes. 'Sorry about that, but to be honest with you I actually didn't think my Wind Screen would hold against your attack, but oh well. If that's all you have then you might as well clear off.' Ketu's face suddenly became serious. 'Go to the depths of hell where you belong. Kazeken.' He pointed his hand at Kenpachi, the dragon above him dove down at Kenpachi forming the shape of a long blade and pierced straight through Kenpachi. Kenpachi had a blank expression on his face and then collapsed into his own puddle of blood. Ketu dropped to his knees, 'I guess I used up too much spiritual pressure blocking that attack, oh well, at least Terri wasn't hurt.' And he fell to the ground.

'Ket,' Ratiasu's ear piercing scream sounded through the area as she ran up and knelt down by Ketu.

'Hey, thanks for having faith in me Terri,' he whispered breathing heavily. Though he had no visible signs of injury.

'No problem,' she said holding back tears.

'Don't worry, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, that's all.' And with that he fell asleep. Ratiasu smiled just as two drops of tear ran down her face and fell on Ketu.

--

A day has passed and Ratiasu and Ketu was sleeping together in front of the fourth gate (don't get any ideas). They both yawned as they got up.

'Ah, now that was refreshing,' said Ketu, feeling fully reenergized again.

'Yep,' agreed Ratiasu next to him. They both stood up and stretched a bit.

'Alright, I think we've had enough time to rest. It's high time we get going, especially before Kenpachi wakes up, come on Terri let's go.'

'You got it.' And they set off through the fourth gate. But what was there only dampened their spirits. As soon as they entered the through the gate they were faced with a sea of Gillian class menos. Hundreds of them spread out for as long as the eyes could see and just opposite them was the gate, which was opened.

'Oh my god, I really can't be bothered dealing with this lot,' said Ketu annoyed.

'Maybe we don't have to, if we can just clear a path to the gate then we can make it through.'

'Sounds good I guess, yeah. Let's see how it goes then.' Ketu and Ratiasu both only made one step beyond the gate before about a million cero attacks smashed into the ground in front of them. Ketu and Ratiasu both jumped back and he turned to her, 'got a plan B?'

'No, but maybe someone else has, look.' She pointed at a figure slaying the menos as she/he went.

'Who's that?'

'I'll think we'll find out soon.'

And just as Ratiasu said that, the person suddenly cried, 'Blossom, Rozehana.' And a barrage of blades slammed into the nearby menos.

--

It was late at night and at last Hikari awoke.

She sat up and felt her head, 'Oh god, my head hurts.' She stopped and looked around, 'Where am I?' No one answered no one was there, it was all dark, all quiet, like you would get on a normal night. But this isn't a normal night and there won't be normal nights for a long time.

She got up and glanced around, it was pitch black but she could make out the tall stone wall on either side of her and a clear path in front and behind.

She advanced forwards with no sense of direction and suddenly out of the dark sprang out three hollows, and because her reflexes are amazing they were sliced up before they even got within a metre of her. She didn't put her sword away in case of anymore attacks, but nothing came as she slowly and carefully walked forwards.

Twenty minutes passed and she entered a large area of empty ground similar to the one whereKenpachi, Ratiaus and Ketu fought, just in another location. The sun was rising bit by bit to the east just peeping over the hills and giving a faint glow of light. Then she found out that she wasn't alone. In front of her stood many hollows gathered in a large circle, but they were looking the opposite way. So she silently crept around them, until she somehow manage to step on a twig. The crunching sound immediately came with a fast reaction by the hollows, they all turned and faced her and for a second it looked like they weren't going to do anything but a second after that they all charged for her.

'Oh bugger me.' She ran forwards flash stepping at times and a large flight of stairs loomed above her, she instinctively climbed them. It took a few minutes to reach the top and she was already out of breath, but luckily and for some odd reason the hollows stopped short half-way up the stairs with scared looks on their faces. 'Hmm? I won't be what could be scaring them.' She turned and came face to face with a menos, 'Ah, so I see.' She thought calmly as a cero blast missed her by an inch. She flash stepped up and sliced the menos down the middle. 'Piece of cake.' The sun has just risen above the mountains of the outskirts of soul society and dawn has changed to morning. Behind the slayed menos was a large gate. 'Gate four here I come.' And without further ado she stepped through.

'Oh, crap,' she screamed as she came in contact with a few hundred menos. They all turned towards the direction of the sound and fired cero as soon as they saw her. She flash stepped up and dodged them. 'Screw this,' she thought backing off. But her retreat was blocked by another menos appearing from no where. 'No choice then.' She jumped up high into the air and screamed, 'Blossom, Rozehana.' Short blades rose out of the guard and encircled the handle. She pulled her sword back ran two fingers across it, 'Ben dansu.' The blades slammed into the surrounding menos and destroyed them. But there were too many, when one was taken down more came up in its place. 'No matter how many I knock down, more pop up in its place, gotta get out of here.' She frantically looked around for a place to run to but everywhere she saw was blocked by menos.

Just as she was about to give up and fight her way out, a blast of wind blew out from behind a menos and disintegrated it. Behind it stood Ketu and Ratiasu.

'Hey Kari, having a fun time?' said Ratiasu smiling.

'Oh, Terri, Ket, it's so good to see you.'

'Time for pleasant talk is over, let's go. There's a gate over there,' said Ketu poiting to the large gate. 'We just need to clear a path there and we'll be fine.' He turned to Ratiasu, 'As they say ladies first, you go on ahead, I'm sure your speed is more than a match than these sluggish menos.'

'Alright, be careful and arrive in one piece.'

'Of course.' Ratiasu was off, she flash stepped past a few menos and then flash stepped in one to the other side.

'Good, she's safe. Okay now Kari, let's go.'

'You got it. Bankai.' Her sword shatters and each piece grew into red blades and rose above her. A menos instantly reacted and fired cero at her, the blades moved in front of her and formed a shield which stopped the cero, then she waved her hand and a few blades bashed and pierced the menos and slayed it. She gave a chilling laugh, 'As they say, even a rose has its thorns.' And she flash stepped forwards clearing any menos that stood in her way. Ketu followed closely behind shooting the wind at any menos that came close.

They cleared most of the menos and came closer to the gate but just then a horde of menos stepped in their way.

'Damn it, too many,' said Hikari. Stopping and was about to attack.

A voice from behind the menos said, 'I call upon the twilight, Mirokumaru.' A large tornado was whipped up and blew away the horde of menos with ease. Ketu and Hikari flash stepped towards the gate when there was nothing in their way to see that Ratiasu had her sword out but she was kneeing down using her sword for support.

'Terri,' shouted Ketu and ran over to support her. 'I told you not to do anything overboard, and what do you do, use your bankai,' he sighed. 'Well, at least you're safe.'

Ratiasu lay in Ketu's arms, 'Sorry, but I just wanted to help.'

'It's okay, you just take it easy now.' Ratiasu stood up on her own, stumbled a bit and walked on.

'Come on, let's get moving.' He three of them set off past the gate and advanced forwards to the next gate, which was no where in sight. All there was, was a gigantic castle off into the distance.

'Is that where we are headed?' asked Ratiasu.

'Yep, so we better get moving, we got a long ways to go,' replied Ketu. Hikari nodded in agreement and they set off walking through the desert.

They walked for a few hours with nothing to see but sand and they arrived at a closed gate with massive thick and tall walls on either side of it.

'How do we open this? I don't see any guards,' asked Ratiasu in a thinking position.

'There must be some sort of mechanism that can open this gate then,' said Hikari feeling around the gate. Ketu sat down and waited calmly.

All of a sudden the two gates swung open and revealed many flight of stairs leading up to the top of the castle. And Hisaigo's voice boomed out, 'I congratulate you on making it this far. So please, come and join me in my throne room, I welcome you all.' The three of them cautiously climbed up the stairs.

'Geez, you don't need that many stairs even if it is for a castle,' said Ratiasu panting when they've finally reached the top after half an hour of stairs.

'I'm just surprised nothing came to ambush us, I was sure that Hisaigo set a trap.' They walked forwards towards another set of gates and as they approached it swung forwards.

'Yes, come my friends. Don't be afraid.' Hisaigo's voice was now clearer and much louder than before.

'Tch, who does he think he's kidding,' said Ketu.

They all walked through the gate and stopped abruptly as they came into a most grotesque scene.


	21. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 – ****Talk is Cheap, Get on with it**

The place was literally an ocean of blood that lay on the floor, there was dead bodies littered all over the place. They walked through the middle of them careful not to tread on anyone. There were random body bits lying around, a leg there, an arm there, a decapitated head there with blood still dripping from the veins. They were all either low ranked officers or non-ranked so that was good at least no one they knew were slaughtered in this massacre.

Ratiasu grabbed Ketu and buried her face in his chest, 'I can't look, this is just too sick.'

'Just keep looking ahead, don't think about them. We need to avenge them,' said Ketu comforting her. Ahead of them was what looked like a mini castle with its four pointed roof towers on each corner of the room. In the middle of the wall facing them was another set of white square gates with absolutely no decoration of any kind, just a plain white stone gate.

They pressed on trying hard not to look at the many corpses which lay at their feet and advanced to the door.

'Hold on a second,' said Ketu halting them a couple of metres short from reaching the door.

'What's with the hold up?' asked Hikari.

'Well, I doubt that he'll just welcomingly let us in, after all we are trying to kill him. I'm sure he set a trap of some sort.'

'Ohhh, I don't know, he might just be a misunderstood guy that's all,' said Ratiasu thoughtfully.

'You need to stop being so naïve Terri. Those soul reapers didn't kill themselves ya know,' said Ketu in a tired voice.

'I guess you're right. Sorry.'

Suddenly the gates started to move and slowly opened up completely and who else could have stood there waiting other than Hisaigo himself.

'Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,' he said calmly and as if he was talking to his guests.

'You!' shouted Ketu drawing his sword immediately, Ratiasu and Hikari drew their swords as well.

'There's no need to act so hostile, after all I am unarmed,' he lifted both his arms to show that he had no weapons on him. 'Won't you come in for a chat?'

'What's to talk about? You killed off many of our comrades, you set our friends against us, you've made us all suffer, I don't think there's anything more we can talk about.'

'Oh? But there is, there are a lot of things I need to say. Such as my whole reason of this was to get you two here, Ketu, and especially Ratiasu. And I must say you both did amazingly well to make it this far, but I knew you both had it in you. That is the easier way anyway. Which means I don't need everyone's souls or the fourth release of my sword as I previously said.' He paused looking at the expression of Ratiasu's face.

'Why especially me though?' asked Ratiasu sounding shocked.

'Why don't you three come in and we can have us a nice chat.' He walked inside.

'Can we trust him?' asked Hikari.

'I don't know, but let's hear what he has to say first, after all, it's three on one, we can't lose,' replied Ketu following Hisaigo.

'Now look who's being naïve.' Hikari and Ratiasu kept close to Ketu and walked in behind him.

They entered through the doors and saw something as unimpressive as a pink flamingo (I don't know why I put that there btw). The room was large but it was plain, there was nothing there. No furniture, no lighting, no painting. It was just a plain white room that could easily fit Buckingham Palace in. Hisaigo stood at one end of the room as Ketu and the rest went to the other, keeping their distance in case Hisaigo tried something funny.

'So two has gathered, good enough I guess,' Hisaigo started shaking his head.

'Two? What do you mean two? Explain youself,' demanded Ketu.

'Humph, I was hoping that Miss Haruka Rose would be here as well but, it looks like she wasn't able to make it.'

'Stop speaking in riddles dammit.'

'Fine. Let me explain. Basically, in order for me to take complete control of soul society, which means slaying the king of course. Previously I needed to absorb everyone's soul and get a fourth release for my sword. But I have found an easier way, so now I just need to have killed and absorbed the souls of the owners of the three unique dragon blades. Ratiasu, who holds the dragon of speed, Doragon**sumiyaka. Ketu, who holds the dragon of wind, **Kazedoragon. And of course the most powerful of them all, the dragon of light, Hidoragon. If I have the souls of all three owners it is said that nothing can stand in the way of their power. There is one thing that makes you three so powerful, but if I told you and you escaped then I'll be in trouble if you achieve it. But I needed Ratiasu especially because she holds some valuable information as well inside that locked brain of hers. As you know Ratiasu is Usaitar's sister, so therefore she holds the information to obtain the last piece of his sword which coincidently is the most powerful part that gave him all his strength. So I needed you, Ratiasu in order to pry that memory out of you.'

'Ok, so you needed me, Ketu and Haruka? Then why kill and control everyone else?'

'Well, that's easy, I like to start things early, why try and kill you when everyone else was in the way? No, better to clear everyone off and just face you three, that way it's much easier and no one gets in the way. But unfortunately my plan went a bit wrong and people escaped, isn't that right Hikari?' Hikari just stared at him with eyes of hatred and said nothing. 'Not going to talk? Well, that's too bad. You're not needed so I think I'm going to dispose of you.' Hikari immediately knew that Hisaigo was going to do something so she was just about to raise her sword when a flash of green light smashed her straight through the wall behind her and she went flying through the sky and crashed landed somewhere but they couldn't make out where. Hisaigo had his hand out pointed at where Hikari used to be with green smoke slowly rising from his hand.

'You bastard what was the need for that?' screamed Ratiasu.

'I thought you already knew. To clean out unwanted trash. What I want is you two, I don't need worthless garbage like that.'

'How dare you insult my friend like that, you'll pay,' Ratiasu was about to charge but Ketu put a hand in front of her and held her back. 'What're you doing? Don't tell me you're just going to let this slip, if we're going to kill him, it's now.' She could tell from Ketu's face that he wanted to kill him as well.

'I agree, but we mustn't rush into things, we know he's strong and we can't underestimate him. Keep a clear head and do not falter.'

'You have a point.' Ratiasu took a deep breath and closed her eyes, Ketu did the same.

'Did I bore you two to sleep already? Well then, let me make it up to you by killing you both. That should put some excitement into this.' He moved with the speed of light and appeared behind Ratiasu and fired off another green light at her. She somehow was able to dodge just at the last second and flip up.

'Bankai,' she shouted as two large dragon wings grew from her back which supported her scarf. She disappeared and striked Hisaigo from behind him, he drew his sword and blocked with lightning speed. A shockwave of spiritual pressure spread through the room and made cracks in the walls.

Ketu appeared a ways back behind Hisaigo his bankai had been relased as the huge dragon appeared above his head he directed it straight at Hisaigo and the dragon charged.

'A pincer attack? How naïve,' said Hisaigo as he vanished and the dragon hit Ratiasu instead but didn't do anything. She sensed Hisaigo's place of reappearance and flash stepped there and slashed again. Hisaigo expected this and blocked, he pushed his blade upwards which shoved off Ratiasu, and he spun and sliced but couldn't touch her. 'What's this?'

'My shield,' said Ketu who disappeared and appeared behind Hisaigo and stabbed.

'Whatever,' said Hisaigo. He flash stepped and appeared at a distance from them. Immediately he fired a green blast of light. Ketu twisted upwards and avoided the blast. Ratiasu flash stepped just before it hit and emerged in front of Hisaigo.

'Wave of Destruction number two, blaze hellfire blast.' A ball of flames pelted at Hisaigo. He didn't even look, he just held up his hand and stopped the attack. Ratiasu's eyes widened with surprise.

'Too weak,' he said, and took that chance to bury his blade depp into Raiasu's stomach. Blood was coughed out of her mouth and blood sprayed out as Hisaigo removed the blade and kicked her towards one side. She fainted.

'Terri,' shouted Ketu as he flash stepped over and caught her.

'Emotions and loved ones can be so much trouble in a fight,' said Hisaigo as he took this chance and thrusted his sword into the back of Ketu. 'You should never let your loved ones into a fight with you, they would only make you weaker.'

Ketu was bleeding heavily as Hisaigo withdrew his sword and flash stepped back a fair distance. He was miraculously standing still, holding Ratiasu in his arms. He lay her down on the floor, blood still dripping where he was cut. Ketu was breathing heavily, 'You're….. wrong…..'

'That's some strong will power you have. To be able to still stand after being pierced through the back. I can see why you were chosen to be an owner of one of the dragon blades. But you're done, you can't do anything in that condition, just accept defeat and surrender.'

Ketu didn't reply, his bankai had disappeared (not a good sign). He walked slowly towards Hisaigo stumbling on nearly every step. 'I won't……… go down…….., this easily……' he raised his hand. 'Wave of destruction, number three, eternity of light.' A bright white light glowed from him and sent out a huge shockwave, Ketu blacked out and fell onto the floor.

'What the?' Hisaigo quickly fired his green beam into the wave of light before it reached him and it exploded in front of him. He was lifted off his feet and blasted into the wall behind him. A trickle of blood dropped from his lips. 'Heh, whatever that attack was, it was surely strong, to make me bleed isn't easy. Oh well.' He walked over to Ratiasu and grabbed her head. 'Time to get some information out of you.' His hand glowed green and some sort of red wave was going into it. Whatever it was made Ratiasu scream like mad even when she was unconscious. A few seconds of screaming and he let go dropping Ratiasu's head on the floor (sick perverted asshole, don't you agree?). He then had a hysterical fit of laughter, 'so that's where it is, ha ha … I've finally found it.' And another fit of laughter but he was cut short.

'Laugh it up, for when this is over I'll be the one laughing,' said a male voice as he stepped into the room along with two other people.

**If you have A-level examinations then you'll know that there are quite a few exams coming next week, in other words i have two a-level exams next week, so basically i won't be able to write the next chp until the week after which is half term, so the next chp will be up on the 28th May. Sorry for delay but i gotta take exams seriously as well.**


	22. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 – ****The Angels fall… Again**

Raven stepped in followed by Naomi and Crystal all looking much better and ready to fight to the death.

'Well hello there Captain Ruhodesu, glad of you to make it,' said Hisaigo with an exaggerated tone.

'Cut the small talk, I came here to repay a debt. Although I don't like him, Ketu and his friends did save me once so now I'm here to return that favour, by defeating you,' Raven didn't seem the least bit interested however, with such an emotionless tone.

Hisaigo gave an evil laugh that echoed throughout the room, 'Defeat me? Ha, you're more of an idiot than I thought. What makes you think that you're strength is anywhere near mine? I know you're tough, but come on, you have as much chance of defeating me than those two did, which I might like to point out isn't very high. After all, I _have _slayed countless number of soul reapers, and I really don't see anything special about you.'

Raven looked at him with a do-I-look-bothered expression on his face. 'As I've already said, cut the small talk.'

'Awwww, don't wanna talk?'

Raven quickly drew out a small sword under his haori, 'Shoot 'em dead, Shinso.' The blade extended straight for Hisaigo.

'My, my, you're a little impatient today,' said Hisaigo as he put his hand out and produced some sort of protective shield in front of him which Shinso couldn't pierce. Raven didn't look at all surprised as he shortened Shinso. 'Nothing? A right ray of sunshine aren't you?'

Now both Naomi and Crystal drew their swords.

'You'll regret ever hurting my cousin,' screamed Crystal.

And then all three shouted, 'BANKAI'

Hisaigo smirked and vanished and quickly stabbed Naomi before her bankai formed , he pulled out his blade and flash stepped back to where he was. The room seemed to darken all of a sudden as black wings sprouted from Raven's back and he was wielding a large scythe. 'Kurohane Kujotenshi.'

White wings grew from Crystal's back as her blade turned into two axes, but she quickly went over to Naomi.

'Nai,' she screamed, holding her close. Naomi was still breathing but she had lost a lot of blood. Crystal cried as Hisaigo watched with amusement.

Raven was trying to hide his emotion but couldn't, 'you bastard, attacking her when she was in the middle of using bankai, how low can you get.'

'I wouldn't call that low, I'd call it strategy. As they say, alls fair in love and war.'

'You imbecile, call it what you may, but now you've just made it personal.' Raven charged and swung down hard at Hisaigo who held up his sword with the least bit of effort and blocked.

'Careful, anger can cloud the mind you know,' whispered Hisaigo.

'You can go and shove it up your backside,' shouted Raven as he turned and swung again, but was blocked again. Crystal has finally left Naomi and was rejoining the battle wiping her tears.

'I'll make you pay for what you did,' she screamed at him.

'Remember what happened when you faced Usaitar? If you do then you'll realize that emotions only hinder you in battle.' Hisaigo jumped out of the way as Raven slammed down with his scythe.

'Stay still you insolent wretch.' Raven fired off a black kido blade, hisaigo swung his sword upwards and sliced it in two. Crystal quickly flash stepped behind Hisaigo and chopped at him with her axes. He blocked one attack and flash stepped upwards to dodge the second one. Another black kido attack rushed towards him, he flash stepped and appeared before Raven. He slashed down hard with his sword, Raven blocked but was thrown back into the wall by the sheer force of Hisaigo's strength making a small indent on the wall.

Hisaigo pursued Raven and charged, Raven flipped upwards as Hisaigo smashed a hole in the wall. Hisaigo flash stepped up and attacked, Raven also attacked, their weapons clashed causing a big explosion which blew Raven back into the wall and Hisaigo jumped back and avoided the blast.

Blood trickled out of Raven's mouth as his back smashed in the wall.

'Dammit, why is he so strong,' thought Raven trying to stand up. Hisaigo next went after Crystal and he blasted out a beam of green light in which she jumped out of the way. He flash stepped after her and slashed down. She held up both axes and blocked, but was also knocked back due to Hisaigo's immense strength. She was just able to land on the ground on both feet before Hisaigo dive-bombed into her. She couldn't move so she held up both axes once more and blocked again, Hisaigo hit with such an impact that it immediately made a crater in the floor below her and sent a huge shockwave which made large cracks in the wall. A large dust cloud rose around them and nothing could be seen. Hisaigo jumped out of the dust cloud and landed perfectly a few metres to the left of it and waited.

Two minutes later the dust died down Crystal was still standing, eyes wide open with shock , she was there frozen like an ice cube, holding her axes. A few seconds of silence and she dropped to her knees then fainted into the crater beneath her.

'CRYSTAL,' shouted Raven and tried to get to Crystal but before he even reached half-way Hisaigo flash stepped in front.

'As I've said so many times, loved ones will only hinder you,' said Hisaigo with the utmost care in his voice before he blasted Raven back into the wall with a beam of green light. Raven collapsed after bashing into the wall and moved no more.

'Such a mess, how am I going to clean all this up?' Hisaigo asked himself sarcastically. He walked towards Raven holding out his sword to deliver the final blow before a 'BANG' shattered the pair of gates open and Haruka stepped in.

'Get away from him, or prepare to suffer the consequences,' said Haruka with such a ruthful tone in her voice.

'Ah miss Haruka, I was wondering when you'd make it,' cried Hisaigo his voice full of joy.

'Don't even try and be nice to me you scum.'

'I'm guessing by that underlying tone in your voice that you aren't glad to see me.'

'From the moment I first laid my eyes on you I had a feeling you were a bit dodgy, and I guess I was right.'

'Right you are Haruka, I may be crazy and insane but then again which evil person who has tried to take over the world isn't crazy?'

'Touché, but still, all evil people are stopped eventually, and I'm here to stop you.'

'Oh, no I'm shaking all over with fright,' he said sarcastically.

'You should be afraid. Now I'll say this once and once only.' She pointed her sword at him, 'leave now and never come back, or I can promise you that you'll never live to see another day.'

'Is that a threat?'

'So what if it is?'

'I don't like being threatened.' Hisaigo suddenly sounded serious, and he had an annoyed look on his face.

'Oh well, too bad.'

'I'LL TEACH YOU TO THREATEN ME,' exploded Hisaigo as he charged at Haruka.

'You fool,' whispered Haruka just as Hisaigo made his first attack. Haruka instantly flash stepped to dodge. She appeared a fairway behind Hisaigo and fired off Hado number four, pale lightning, from the tips of her fingers. Hisaigo knew it was coming and did a high back flip just in time to avoid the blast.

'Not bad, very speedy. But then again what would you expect from the strongest of all dragon based blades and owners.' Hisaigo seemed to have come back to his senses and isn't looking as crazy.

'You have seen nothing yet.' She instantly disappeared from Hisaigo's sight.

'I can read all your moves you know,' he said as he held his sword up to his left and a split-second later Haruka appeared and slashed down into his sword.

'Oh really?' she vanished again appearing above him and stabbing down.

'You're fast, but not fast enough.' Hisaigo jumped and swung his sword in a half circle and knocked her sword the other way. Haruka flipped up and slashed again. He flash stepped behind her and sliced horizontally.

'You're not exactly fast yourself.' She turned around and parried the attack, twisted around and also sliced horizontally. He held his sword vertically to his left and blocked.

'I never said I was fast though.' He smiled and raised his other hand, 'But I will say I am more powerful than you can imagine.' Hisaigo suddenly had a burst of spiritual pressure that erupted from him. Haruka was hit by it and was knocked back but easily flipped back to her feet. Hisaigo went in an evil laugh that shook the walls of this room. 'This is the power difference between you and I and you could never hope to narrow this power gap.' Hisaigo became enveloped in his own huge spiritual pressure.

'Never underestimate your opponent,' said Haruka as the glow of her spiritual pressure surrounded her. 'Now, it's time. Brighten the darkness, Hidoragon.' Haruka's spiritual pressure sent a large shockwave outwards, her as the central point destroying walls near her and shattering the floor. A bright glow radiated from her sword as it cut through all darkness in the room and the skies and brightened the day.

'That's some nice power you have there Miss Rose, nothing less expected the infamous Hidoragon of course.'

'Can it, you're going down.' And at that both spiritual pressures surrounding them disappeared and Haruka charged. Hisaigo quickly side stepped to move out of the way. Haruka twisted in mid-air and shot Hado number four at him. He held his hand up and blasted that all so familiar green beam of light, both attacks collided and sent Hisaigo and Haruka flying in opposite directions. Hisaigo instantly recovered and flash stepped towards Haruka.

'Shiraenkouya,' she screamed as a white flaming arrow formed on her sword and shot straight for Hisaigo. She smiled, as the arrow made contact and exploded. But a fraction of a second later her smile vanished as Hisaigo flew out of the smoke appearing unharmed and Haruka was so stunned she couldn't move. All she saw was a flash of red as Hisaigo pierced just below her heart and the blood splattered out as he pulled the blade out just as fast. Haruka's eyes widened with shock as she fell to her knees. Hisaigo stood above her holding the blood soaked blade downwards above Haruka.

'Weren't you the one who said never underestimate your opponents? It seems you just did and gave such a big opening that I had no choice but to take it.' He sighed and raised his blade just above her heart. 'Well now, looks like this is the end of the line for you, and the beginning of a new era of rulership of soul society, once I've killed you my powers will soon be complete and there will be no one to stop me. It's a pity that you can't stay to bask in the triumph of the great Hisaigo. But oh well, it's time for you to go.'

'Move, why can't I move? I can't die here, not now. Don't fail me now, move legs, MOVE,' she thought lying there the pool of blood beneath her expanding ever so larger with each second as blood pours from her wound.

'As they say in Chinese, qu si ba,' and he thrusted his blade down straight through her chest.

'Sorry, my friends. I've failed,' as the last thoughts left her, she blacked out.

_Note qu si ba, means 'go to death' literally translated from Chinese_

Again I'm going to have to postpone the next chapter by a week because of some Chemistry a-level exams next Wednesday, sorry.


	23. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 – A Walk Down Memory Lane (****A bit of history about Haruka)**

She opened her eyes at last, expecting pain but it didn't come. She was lying on the cold hard concrete ground. She stood up and noticed that she was at the end of a hallway with a solid stone wall behind her and another one about fifty in front. The hallway was completely made of stones placed in an orderly arrangement.

'Where am I?' she asked herself although she had a distinct feeling that she knows this place. She stood up and walked forwards. The hallway was lit by many torches that hung on the walls on either side. She walked a few metres forward and as soon as she put her put down a door appeared to her left. 'What's this?' as she turned around her instinct opened the door (well obviously I mean what would you do if you were in her shoes).

She stepped into a dark room and the door closed behind her. As soon as the door closed a scene flashed through the room and she found her self in a familiar long street full of people.

'Hey wait, I know this place,' she thought as someone came behind her and walked straight through her. 'What the hell?' She looked around, 'Did I take a trip back in time? Or is this just a memory?' As if to answer that thought two young girls came running down the street. They were wearing kimono's which made them look out of place as they were wearing clean and pretty and the which made the other people look poor as they were wearing just normal Japanese clothes. Both girls had blue eyes and long blonde hair, but their faces looked nothing alike. One of them Haruka recognized as herself when she was younger about mid twenties and the other was Hikari also mid twenties.

They looked as if they were running away from something but they were both smiling and laughing. The younger Hikari shouted behind her, 'Ket, hurry it up we haven't got all day you know.'

A young boy appeared from a crowd of people, it was Ketu when he was younger about sixteen. He was wearing a white yukata with a white hakama. He ran after Haruka and Hikari.

'Hey wait up, this isn't fair I'm younger than you both. Slow down.'

Hikari stopped and looked back, 'hurry it up you slow coach, you're slowing us down.'

'What the big rush, it's only a shogi tournament.'

'Well if you didn't know I'm an expert at shogi and I would like to learn more, after being beat about three hundred times in a row maybe you can learn a thing or two from this tournament.'

'I only got beat cos I don't have any interest in shogi, and it's not like I play it everyday like you.'

'That doesn't matter, just hurry it up.'

Haruka was at the end of the streets and shouted, 'Are you two coming or should I go without you?'

'Whoa, whoa whoa, you can't go without me, I am the returning champion,' Hikari shouted back and raced after her. Ketu sighed and ran as well.

The memory suddenly changed scenes and Haruka was standing in the middle of a massive hall with shogi tables everywhere and there was no one present. The door on one side of the hall opened and many people stormed in and lined themselves on each side of the hall. There was Haruka, Hikari and Ketu lined up next to each other, they sorta stuck out a bit in their fancy clothes while a large portion of the other people looked like they just crawled out of the gutter. But there are some people who are properly dressed. Ketu had the expression on his face that he'd rather not be here. An announcer took the stage on the far side of the hall with a microphone. Basically he said a few rules and then he made a small speech, introduced the returning champion (Hikari) and said that they were going to do a random draw to see who faces who.

The tournament began, Ketu was knocked out in the first round by a weird old guy who looks as if he was blind because all he did was look upwards and say where his pieces are going to move to and someone else did it for him. Haruka and Hikari both made it to the semi-finals and that's when something fun happened.

Haruka was still playing her match when Hikari just won (she was against a huge muscley brute who looked as if he won his matches just by scaring his opponents). Hikari had no time to be intimidated by him however, she was too sucked into the game. As soon as she won the guy who lost stood up very quickly and looked murderous in his face. Hikari, being the good sport she is held out her hand for a game well played. Her opponent looked at her hand and smacked it out of the way.

'Hey there was no need for that,' said Hikari politely holding her hand.

The large man stood in front of her sizing her up and shouted in her face, 'there was no need for you to win this but you don't see me complaining.' The entire hall just suddenly went quiet and everyone was staring at Hikari and her opponent, no one dared move or utter a sound.

'Actually you are complaining right now so what you just said didn't make any sense.'

'Are you trying to be funny, you bitch?' he spat at Hikari's feet.

'No, I was just pointing out your mistakes.'

'Don't try and be clever, or I'll mash that pretty face of yours.'

Ketu who just realized what was happening (a bit slow isn't he) rushed between Hikari and the big man. 'Hey, hey there's no need to be violent. It's only a game calm down.' Two people behind the big man stood up, it looks as if they are his 'accomplices'.

'Hey nobody told you to butt in shorty.' And he smashed Ketu out of the way, who went flying into a wall and slid down and sat still, eyes closed. Many of the girls screamed and gasped.

'Ket,' screamed Hikari and tried to go to his aid.

'Hey blondy, I'm not done with you yet,' the big man stepped in her way. Now Hikari was looking frightened and stunned. She was unable to move, just stood there with wide eyes of fear.

Haruka stood up and left her game. She walked calmly in front of the big man. She didn't even look up when she talked, 'hey don't bully my friends, otherwise I'm going to have to do something about it.'

'Tch, another weakling. But I must say you're rather cu-' He didn't get to finish as Haruka (in half a second) formed a ball of spiritual energy in the palm of her hands and shoved it into the big man blasting him through the wall of this hall.

'If you were about to say cute then you're lucky I attacked before you finished, cos if you had said cute, I would have vaporized you,' stormed Haruka.

The two people who were behind the big man ran to him, 'hey boss are you alright.' They both lifted him up and steadied him on his feet as he woke.

'How dare you just hit me,' the big man roared, 'I'll teach you a thing or two about fighting.' He went straight for Haruka who just stood here calmly waiting.

'You people just don't learn,' she said and looked up. She immediately withdrew one hand behind her back as another ball of spiritual energy formed and she blasted it forwards just as the big man was about to make contact. The big man was blasted off his feet and into the sky. 'Bullies like you shouldn't be allowed to live. Hado number four, pale lightning.' She pointed a finger and him and shot out a beam of lightning which pierced his stomach and shoved him onwards even further.

'Oh no, boss.' The two men ran after him and disappeared.

Then suddenly the hall erupted in cheers. Haruka went to Ketu and looked at him.

'Hey wake up, I know you're fine,' she shouted down his ear.

'How the hell did you know that?' he asked as he opened his eyes.

'It's not hard, especially when I saw you put up a spiritual energy barrier just at the last second when he hit you.'

'Oh so you saw, ah well. By the way, shouldn't you go finish you're match?'

'Oh right, I nearly forgot.' She went back to her seat, 'Sorry about that, let's carry on shall we. And everything around Haruka (the one who's viewing all of this) went black and the same door appeared behind her. (By the way, if you were wondering who won the tournament it was obviously Hikari, Haruka made it to the finals but got owned by Hikari). She stepped back into the hallway again and another door had appeared to the right of her.

'What is this suppose to be?' she thought to herself. 'Am I dead and viewing all the wrong things I've done in the past?'

A female voice came out of no where said, 'Don't be silly, you're not dead, and you haven't done anything wrong, just go through the doors as they come and you'll find what you need.'

Haruka shrugged and walked through the second door.

She found herself in her old house where she, Ketu and Hikari used to live (and Ratiasu as well later when Ketu finds her). She was standing in the hallway where there was two bags lying on the floor full of clothes and other necessity needed to go away for a while.

'I remember this, it's when me and Hikari were about to leave for the soul reaper academy.' And to verify that remark her younger self came down from the stairs dressed in academy uniform, Hikari came a few seconds later.

'Hey we're leaving now, won't be back for at least five months or so.'

Ketu came down slowly smiling. 'Going off eh? I'm really proud to have you two as my friends.'

'Awww, thanks Ket,' said Hikari as she bent down and kissed him and Ketu's face went a shade of scarlet.

A sound of a horse came from outside and they knew their carriage as arrived. A woman came from another room and had tears in her eyes, 'I'm so proud of you, you go and show them all what you can do.' She went and hugged Hikari.

'Yeah we'll show 'em. Don't worry mum, we'll be back before you know it.'

The women smiled, blew her nose and smiled.

'Come on, let's go Kari. We don't want to make them wait too long,' said Haruka as she threw her bag onto her shoulders and left.

'Alright, I'm coming, wait up.'

'See you two soon, don't forget me,' shouted Ketu after them.

'Don't worry, a part of you will always be with us, we can never forget you Ket. Don't tell me you're going to cry,' said Hikari.

'Of course not, what do you take me for.' Hikari and Haruka got into the carriage and waved at everyone who's gathered in the streets to see them leave.

'Bye bye Ket, don't get lonely,' shouted Haruka as the carriage pulled out and sped off.

'I'll be waiting for you when you return,' shouted Ketu. As the carriage left his sight he whispered, 'be back soon please,' and he broke into tears.

'Poor Ket, I never knew he really cared. Now here's a sensitive side of him I haven't seen. Makes me almost want to cry as well,' she sniffed. The scene blacked out and the door appeared behind her. She opened it and went out.

The familiar hallway surrounded her again. As she stepped forwards another door appeared in front of her to the right.

'I may as well, I can't get out of here otherwise,' she thought to herself so she opened the door and went in.

She now arrived in what looks to be the original seireitei and she saw herself waiting on the 'streets' of seireitei in the middle of the night. She looks the same as she does now, so this must be near the present time, (when I mean near I mean about a few tens of years in seireitei)

'Hmm? I don't recall doing this. Maybe it's just my bad memory then.' The Haruka she was watching was randomly pacing around the same area, as if she was waiting for someone.

Then suddenly there was a movement in the darkness and a flash of red and Ratiasu appeared right next to her.

'Hey Rika, first again are ya?' said Ratiasu smiling politely.

'Of course, I'm always punctual.'

'Well being an unranked soul reaper you get more leeway so you don't have to make sure you're not seen.'

'You make a fair point, but still, with your kind of speed you should be able to get here in a second.'

'Well…' she scratched her head and trailed off. There was a slight jangle of metal and Ketu appeared in front of Ratiasu.

'Well, well, you should be less noisy eh? Captain Zakura?' said Ratiasu in a gloating slow way (like when you're patronizing someone, sort of).

'Yeah, yeah whatever. I'm not bothered, after all I am a captain, they can't do anything if they tried.' Ketu looked at Ratiasu and Haruka, 'Looks like Kari's last again.'

'Guess you're right,' said Hikari who just randomly appeared from the shadows behind Ketu. Ketu jumped with shock.

'Ack, don't sneak up on people like that,' he said backing off a bit.

'Yeah, what is it with you captains always having to be so sneaky,' said Ratiasu in a wondering way.

'We like it, right Ket?'

'Yeah, I guess.' Hikari sighed and suddenly everyone became serious.

'So, a big fight for us all tomorrow,' said Hikari. The four of them now stood in a kite shape with one person at each side.

'Yes, off to the human world,' said Haruka.

'We'll be fighting in different areas, but we'll still be looking out for each other in different ways,' said Ratiasu.

'Yes, today, all of us shall become as one, we shall each of us give a bit of our own spiritual energy to the others, this way we'll be able to feel if anyone is in trouble and go to their aid. And also, we'll truly become friends forever and we'll stick with each other no matter what happens.'

'Oh I remember, this is when there was a huge hollow invasion in the human world and squads, five, seven and thirteen got called to clear them out. This only happened recently as well, how the hell did I forget, this was one of the most important days of my life,' thought the real Haruka as she just remembered where she was and what she was doing.

'Let's do this,' Ketu carried on and put out his hand in the middle, the other three put their hands on top. Everyone glowed with their colour of spiritual energy and you could see the streams of colour going to each person. A minute or two later the energy died down and they broke apart. 'Now we can all count on each other. Together forever.'

'Yeah,' said Haruka.

'Well looks like it's time to go back to sleep, we have got a lot of hollows to kill tomorrow,' said Hikari.

'Good luck to everyone, I know we'll make it out of their alive and we're going to win as well,' said Ratiasu.

'Uh huh, as they say all for one and one for all,' said Ketu punching the air above him and the other three joined in. At that all of them flash stepped and was gone within a second. The scene then went black and the door appeared behind Haruka's back and she walked back into the hallway.

The wall at the end of the hall wall had turned into a door and there was a picture of Hidoragon engraved on the doors frame. She walked closer to it.

'You see, you've got friends who are counting on you, they would do anything for you, and they care for you so much. You can't just say you've failed them, you can't just give up now, you have everything to fight for. You were able to help them out in many other cases before so why not now. You have the power, so don't hesitate to use it, if not for yourself for your friends. Do it for them, it's just as Ketu said, all for one and one for all, NOW OPEN THAT DOOR AND CRUSH HISAIGO,' shouted the female voice which Haruka only just realized it was herself speaking. She felt a sudden surge of power within her as her friends' spiritual pressure surfaced with hers and she pulled open the door. Inside was a dragon, asleep. It was Hidoragon.

The dragon made a small sound and woke up. 'Is nap time over already?' asked Hidoragon.

'You got that right Hidoragon, now it's time to unleash my power, this is for MY FRIENDS,' she screamed as Hidoragon smirked and roared.

She woke up at last and found her self standing up and has blocked Hisaigo's final attack with the palm of her hand. Her wound had healed and her spiritual energy was practically exploding out with massive strength.

'What is this?' screamed Hisaigo over the noises Haruka's spiritual energy is making. He backed off more and more as Haruka straightened up.

Hidoragon's shape appeared above Haruka made from her humongous spiritual pressure. 'I'll teach you to mess with my friends, now it's time to awaken and annihilate all that is dark,Hidoragon time to rise and win this fight. BANKAI'

**Tomorrow morning is my last exam so i should be back to normal writing this from now on, unless something else pops up, but i'll let you know if something does**


	24. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 – The Final Bout of Hisaigo**

The walls and floor within a ten metre radius of Haruka was instantly shattered to pieces by her immense spiritual pressure and a dust cloud now hung over where Haruka is. Hisaigo flash stepped backwards as far from her as he could and readied himself.

'Such power. Have I finally found an adversary worth fighting? I knew you'd be strong, but to have achieved bankai with Hidoragon, that's quite the accomplishment I must say. And also to be able to hide this is another great achievement. I guess I have to crush all that power of yours to get what I want then,' said Hisaigo sounding so confident.

The dust died down a big and you could just make out Haruka's head as she said, 'Overconfidence will kill you Hisaigo. I'm not letting you walk away from this place alive, not after what you did to my friends.'

The cloud completely scattered away by her spiritual pressure as Haruka 'showcased/flashed' her sword and flicked it violently to her right. It was exactly as it was in shikai form, nothing has changed.

Hisaigo let out a roar of laughter. 'Is that really you're bankai? Ha ha ha, you're sword didn't change at all, don't even try to fool me with some cheap tricks like that. I, the great Hisaigo will not stand being tricked. Are you trying to piss me off? I think you are, so get ready, cos this is going to be the fight of your life. ARGH,' screamed Hisaigo as he too let out a mass of spiritual pressure.

'I'll repeat, NEVER underestimate your opponents,' said Haruka and she vanished and a split-second later a huge gash appeared vertically down Hisaigo's chest down to his left leg. He screamed and dropped down onto one knee as the blood splattered to the concrete floor.

'What the hell,' he shouted holding his leg in agony. Haruka reappeared again back where she originally was. 'So, is that your bankai's ability? It keeps its original shape and length but gives you a big increase in power and speed?'

'You half-way there, it also gives me a new attack. Watch closely now.' She smirked and flash stepped up into the air, 'shira-enkou-yari,' she shouted as a volley of flaming white spears rained down at him from a circle of light that Haruka casted in front of the tip of her sword.

'Shit,' said Hisaigo to himself and the volley of spears buried him underneath. The grounds was blasted into pieces and the entire building was going to collapse, Haruka hurriedly grabbed everyone who and ran out of the building so no ones gets crushed. She laid everyone down separately apart from each other and walked to the collapsing building waiting to see if Hisaigo survived that attack and the building collapsing on him.

The building was still falling, so she waited standing there sword at the ready incase Hisaigo tried something sneaky if he was still alive.

The building collapsed completely with a loud crash, and the dust was blown up into the air and it was almost impossible to see. Haruka waited for the dust to die down and advanced closer.

A blood soaked arm of Hisaigo was hanging out from underneath a pile of rocks. As Haruka approached it, it suddenly started twitching. Then the hand closed up into a fist and smashed down onto the pile of rocks reducing them to ruble and surprisingly Hisaigo burst out, drenched in his own blood, hyperventilating.

'I'm not through with you yet,' he panted barely able to stand up. He stumbled a bit, used his sword for support and balanced himself up.

'Stop this, you can't possibly continue in your condition,' she shouted holding her hand in front of her.

'Stop? I will do no such thing, not until soul society is mine. NOW, GO TO HELL AND DIE.' Hisaigo held his sword high above him and charged with the face of a maniac.

'Doesn't look like I have a choice, fine then.' Haruka also charged and the two clashed blades in the middle. She flash stepped as Hisaigo was about to make another attack and appeared behind him. 'You're done,' she shouted as she delivered the final blow and striked straight through Hisaigo's heart. Litres of blood cascaded from his chest when Haruka pulled her bloodied sword out. Hisaigo slumped to his knees, died and laid sprawled on the floor.

A minute or two passed of silence as Haruka waited to see if he was going to come back alive again, but when Hisaigo didn't move for all that time, she slowly and gingerly walked away but was still alert.

Ratiasu suddenly started moving, slowly then she was sitting up again. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

'Oh no, Ket,' she cried and without another word she went over and started healing Ketu's wounds without even having the slightest glance round.

Haruka came over and crouched by her, 'Is he going to be ok?'

Ratiasu was surprised at first to see her, but then her expression changed to relief, 'Don't worry, he'll be just fine.'

'Good, what about the rest of them?' asked Haruka as she stood up and looked at al the injured.

'Oh? Woops, I didn't notice them, guess I was too busy looking for Ket that I forgot to look elsewhere,' said Ratiasu with a happy yet sorry sort of tone. 'Well since there are this mane people, I guess I'll use my shikai's second ability then.'

'Your sword has a second ability? How come I never knew that?' questioned Haruka sounding surprised.

'Because I've never had to use it. Just watch. Now. Flash, Doragonsumiyaka ,' said Ratiasu and then she closed her eyes and started chanting holding her sword in front of her vertically upwards. 'Now, let all light shine above us, let all evil be dispelled. Wounds close and people heal, let life be brought back, let your warm glow shine upon us, heal, Doragonsumiyaka.' She thrusted her sword up into the sky and watched as it disappeared into a void. As this happened a massive glow of light shone from the sky with all the colours of the rainbow and engulfed all the injured. Blood disappeared and their wounds began to close. The light glowed even brighter until it was impossible to look into it. Haruka shield her eyes from it and a few seconds later the light disappeared and the area returned to its original brightness. Everyone had been healed and they were all starting to wake up.

'So, I lost again did I?' asked Raven suddenly as he sat up. He showed no signs of care however.

A scream came from his left and he immediately saw Crystal and Naomi run towards him. 'Oh Rae you're alright,' cried Crystal as she jumped on top of him.

'Arg. Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry. Looks like we're all fine,' he said looking around. 'Erm… Crystal, I'm sorry.' Raven hung his head as he said it.

'Hey don't be such a wet blanket, we made it out ok so that's good enough for me,' laughed Crystal happily.

'Crystal's right, you need to stop looking down on yourself Rae,' said Naomi who joined in the conversation.

A moments silence as Raven looked up into the clear blue sky. 'I guess,' murmured Raven. They remained silent for a long time after that and later they all got up and walked to Haruka.

'Hey Terri, thanks,' said Ketu as he also walked up to Ratiasu and Haruka after waking up. 'That technique of yours, I haven't seen it since when we were practising it. You sure mastered it very well, you just need to master not using so much of your spiritual energy next time. But still you did a good job, so thank a lot.

'No pro..b..l..e..m… Ke..t..' she panted. She tried to walk towards him but collapsed halfway and into Ketu's arms.

'Are you ok?' Ketu asked with a tone of worry in his voice

'What are you talking about, o..f course.. I'm… o…k…' she then fell asleep.

'Sleep, my love, sleep and regain your strength. No need to worry Terri, I'm with you now, you'll be fine.' He laid Ratiasu down onto the floor and quietly stepped away.

A minute later everyone gathered next to Haruka and asked the same question, 'What happened?' So each of them started telling each other their part of the story until soon all parts were together and everyone there knew the complete sequence of events.

'You say Hisaigo absorbed some information out of Terri's mind?' asked Ketu in a thinking pose but sounded worried all the same. Raven nodded to confirm his answer. 'I wonder what could that be?'

Crystal gasped as she just suddenly remembered, 'The last piece of Usaitar's sword. Of course, it has to be that.'

'The last what of the what sword?' asked Ketu sounding astonished and confused at the same time.

'Oh that right, many of you weren't there when my cousin read it out.'

'Read what out? I'm intrigued.' asked Haruka sounding interested.

Crystal then summarized the entire history that she had researched with her cousin to them. Giving them all the important information, i.e. the thousand piece sword and that Ratiasu was Usaitar's sister etc etc. Things like that basically.

'But that doesn't make any sense, why would Hisaigo want the last piece? Sure it's the most powerful but surely you need the entire sword and I did see that Usaitar got vaporized by Hisaigo including his sword.'

'Yes, this is rather strange.' Raven added his comment in.

'Well, that doesn't matter now. We know that Hisaigo's dead and so is Usaitar and that's all there is to it. So everything should be back to normal by now,' confirmed Ketu. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

'I think we should go and see if everyone else is alright now,' suggested Haruka.

'Yes, let's go take a look,' agreed Naomi.

They all turned away from the wreckage and started to walk away but didn't get very far as a roar of laughter erupted from behind them. 'I'm dead am I? A ha ha, so naïve of you to think that, impudent fools.'

**Unfortunately it's another short chp, but oh well couldn't think of more to write, but anyway hope u liked it**


	25. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23 – Old Foes Die Hard**

'I know that voice,' exclaimed Crystal as everyone turned round it was Usaitar! 'Usaitar, no it can't be. You're dead! No.' Crystal's voice was filled with fear. Usaitar was lowering himself slowly from a black hole in the sky which was probably a gateway to hueco mundo.

'How can this be, I saw you get vaporized with my own eyes,' shouted Haruka.

'Ha ha ha, how much of an idiot can you be? What you saw, was my sword vaporizing a image of me,' said Usaitar calmly as he slowly approached the group. Everyone had drew their sword and Ketu has already backed off to protect Ratiasu.

'What is this nonsense you speak of?' asked Raven insultingly calmly.

Usaitar stopped about ten metres in front of them, 'Nonsense? I don't speak nonsense, I speak the truth.'

'Then tell me, what is this crap about your sword vaporizing an image of you?'

'That, is the ability of my sword, watch, I'll demonstrate.' He unsheathed his sword which was just half the blade and he held it pointing at Hisaigo. A second later Hisaigo was, what looked like breaking apart, and his pieces changed into small blades which pieced themselves together onto Usaitar's sword. 'Hisaigo was just half of my sword you see. My sword's ability is that it's able to split into half, keeping its full strength, and the other half becomes a person who I named Hisaigo who acts under my command and he gets half the strength of my sword. Also the sword can create mirror images of me and I can use them as a decoy, or to fool you as I have done before only bad thing is that the mirror image can't do anything except act. Pretty amazing abilities aren't they?'

'Shit, if that was only half his strength I'd hate to see his full strength,' thought Ketu suddenly becoming frightened.

'Such a shame, I was planning on Hisaigo to wipe you all of you nosy kids out so I don't have to get my hands dirty. But I guess I underestimated a certain Miss Haruka Rose, who'd have guess you had already achieved bankai and can wield so much power perfectly. I must commend you on defeating my sword even if it was only half the power,' said Usaitar with a smirk on his face.

'What are you doing back here anyway?' said Haruka with force behind her words.

'Calm down Haruka or should I say Rika? Isn't that what everyone calls you round here?' Haruka didn't answer, she just stared at him with an expression of hatred. So Hisaigo continued 'Don't worry I'm certainly not here to hurt anyone, not yet anyway, I especially wouldn't attack when my sister is in that state,' he said and nodded at Ratiasu. 'I really must apologize for Hisaigo's ruthless on her, I actually instructed him not to cause her any pain, ah well he got what he deserved all the same.' Ketu looked as if he was ready to kill but didn't dare make a move. No one spoke, everyone stood there. 'Did I make you all speechless? I came here to have a nice chat, don't freeze out on me.'

'How can you expect us to have a friendly chat with you after all that you have done?' shouted Crystal eyeing him viciously.

'Ah touché. I guess I'm not welcome here am I?'

'No, you're certainly not welcome here ever again,' said Naomi with a distinct tone of dislikeness.

Usaitar didn't seem the least bit offended as he carried on smiling, 'Such a shame. I was really enjoying the sights here as well.'

'Well nobody wants you here so why don't you take a hint and get lost,' shouted Crystal forcefully.

'I can not do that just yet, I did not come here to fight this time so no need to be so hostile is there?' Again no one answered, 'I came to help out my dear sister, after all I think Hisaigo did go a little overboard with her.' He started walking towards Ratiasu Ketu automatically stepped in his way.

'Don't take another step towards her or else!' he said through gritted teeth.

'My, my. Such violence, don't worry I won't hurt her, I've already gotten all the information I have from her. So there is no need for me to harm her anymore just yet, all I wish is for her to be well for our next encounter, because at that time it will be when I shall complete my destiny and rule over all of soul society. So please move out of my way,' he seemed so polite when he said this it almost made him humane.

Ketu didn't budge, 'Never, I will not let you come any closer to Terri.'

'Terri? Is that her Nickname? I must say, you have given her quit a cute name, it indeed suits her.' He sighed, 'It's ok if you don't want to move, I can understand why. No matter, I'll just healed her from this distance then.' He then chucked something into the air from his hand, it looked like a ball of white substance. The ball shattered above Ratiasu and rained on her, she glowed slightly and nothing happened after that.

'What did you do, tell me,' demanded Ketu grabbing Usaitar.

'Calm down my friend.'

'NEVER call me your friend,' shouted Ketu in his face.

'Alright, easy now,' Usaitar grabbed Ketu's hand and easily removed it from his clothes. 'Don't you worry, all I did was give her some healing energy that will heal her inner wounds, the ones that her bankai's ability can't heal. Maybe now you understand where he healing ability comes from, it comes from our parents who were the best squad four members at the time more than five hundred years ago. So we both inherited their amazing healing abilities. Though I must say, they haven't come in use for me much at all, but at least my sister's ability has served her well.' He walked calmly and slowly away from them.

'Hey where are you off to, I thought you wanted to take over sou society,' shouted Haruka after him. Naomi threw Haruka a dirty look as if to say, let him leave, we can't handle him.

'As I've said earlier, I only came this time because I wanted to personally heal my sister's wounds. I mean after all we may be enemies but doesn't family always come first?' And again no one answered. 'Is it just me or are all of you too quiet today?' Silence once more, 'Whatever, I'm off to get the final piece of my sword. A quest that I've been meaning to complete for centuries now. When I do gain my full strength I will return and take what rightfully mine, soul society.'

'So that was what Hisaigo was absorbing from Ratiasu's head. It was memory,' stated Raven.

'You got it. Still, Hisaigo went over the top when absorbing the memory.' He sighed again, 'Well, I'm off, see you all soon.' He walked away back to the wreckage.

'Dammit, if I let him get away now he'll become even more powerful once he obtains his last sword piece. No I can't let him get away,' thought Haruka, and she ran towards him shouting, 'Sorry about this but I can't just let you walk away, shira-enkou-yari.' A wave of white flaming spears shot from a black hole that appeared in front of her sword and they slammed into Usaitar who had stopped walking when he heard her shout. The spears also blasted into the ground and raised a curtain of dust and debris into the air. She followed through with her attack and charged into the cloud sword pointing forward. There was instantly a huge bang and the cloud was chased away to reveal that Usaitar had indeed with stood her spear and has also blocked her sword, with his bare hands no less (his sword hung from his waist).

'A surprise attack? I never thought you'd try something as sneaky and as low as that,' said Usaitar mockingly. He wrapped his hand around her sword and threw her back to where she was originally. She rolled along the floor as she landed coughing up dirt and blood. 'A valiant effort, but don't expect it to work.'

A beam of yellow light suddenly shone from a gateway to hueco mundo and Haruka knew that there was no chance of stopping him now.

'I must commend you however on trying to get me when I was leaving, because if you had stopped me then that would have been that. All of you other dimwits were even too stupid to move, if you had all teamed up, you might've had a chance to kill me before I left. But alas, destiny is on my side, and my destiny is to rule soul society. For now I return to hueco mundo and retrieve the last piece of my sword, yes it is in hueco mundo you heard right. A good hiding place to say the least, it was the last place I'd have ever thought to look. Good job on hiding it for this long sis, but destiny wanted me to find it. If however you think you can stop me after I gain my full strength then please come to hueco mundo, I welcome you. But at least be a bit stronger if you do, I'd hate to have to kill people too easily, it'd be boring, don't you think? Well, that's that,' he was nearly at the gate, 'see you all again, very soon. Oh and by the way, there _is_ a fourth release, find it then face me. Bye.' The gate closed and Usaitar's smirking face vanished with it.

Everyone was speechless, it was like a veil of silence, no one said anything, until Haruka broke the silence and shouted, 'Just you wait Usaitar, I'LL GET YOU.'

**End of Part 2**

**Good plot twist don't you think? Well, hope you enjoyed it, that's the second part finished though it was a short ending chapter, but I think I got most things cleared up, third part will begin next week so look forward to it**


	26. Chapter 24

**Part 3 – Hunt for the Eyes of the Dragons **

**Chapter 24 – Discovery**

It's been four months since the last chapter and everything has went back to normal, or as normal as it can. Seireitei has been completely rebuilt back into its former glory, four months was more than enough with the huge man-power that soul society has.

If you were wondering what happened to Hikari after she got blasted into the sky then I'll tell you, she was coincidently caught by Haodong 4th seat of squad four, remember, who came after her. He healed her and they met up with the rest at the foot of the stairs where all those menos were. After the battle Usaitar disappeared into Hueco Mundo and no one has heard from him since, there hasn't been any sign of him even when they sent a recon team to investigate in Hueco Mundo. They've decided not to worry until something happens, much to many captains disagreement however, as they claim it'll be too late if the wait for Usaitar to act first. But Chojiro, who has been temporarily put in charge until they can find someone who will lead the Gotei 13 because all the current captains refused to do it and seeing as Chojiro has a bit of experience he was put in charge by central 46.

Nothing much has happened in the last four months, it was mainly rebuilding soul society. Since captains and vice-captain find it difficult to enter Hueco Mundo they've had nothing to do except over look the rebuilt. But recently something strange has been happening. If you remember both Ratiasu and Ketu are wearing dragon necklaces, only a dragon's head, what I failed to mention was that the dragons only had holes for eyes and it looked like the holes could be filled with something. Well recently both Ratiasu and Ketu's necklaces' eyes have been flashing different colours, it was only small and infrequent at first but as the time passed the light got brighter and more frequent to the point where they both had to take it off when they were sleeping, I do remind you that they had never had to take it off before seeing as it was a precious gift from each other.

It's the beginning of a new day now. The sun is shining, birds chirping etc. etc. and the first cherry blossoms were blooming. It is around ten in the morning and most people were awake, except Ratiasu who was still snoozing away in her bed with vermillion around her everywhere. What she doesn't know is that she's about to get rudely awakened.

Outside her huge house which was a load of buildings connected together, in old fashioned Japanese style. Ketu appeared outside her gates and just strolled in, and the two guards didn't do a thing. He quietly opened the door to her room and stepped in and slowly closed the door behind him.

"Arghh arghh, so much red," joked Ketu to himself looking around. "Now let's think, a good way to wake her up, he he he, this should be good." He looked around but didn't find anything, so instead he lowered his face near to her and made a funny face with a wide smile. "Wake up Terri," he said repeatedly in a growing high voice like that you'd say to wake up a child.

Ratiasu slowly opened her eyes. "Huh?" she mumbled staring at Ketu. He stuck out his tongue and 'rawred'. Ratiasu screamed and without thinking swung her arm into Ketu's face. He went flying into the wall and looked a bit dazed. "Oh my dear god," she panted getting out of bed. "That wasn't nice Ket, I could've killed you. And haven't you heard of knocking?"

"Well, at least it woke you up," said Ketu standing up again.

Suddenly the door flew open and another girl jumped in and shouted, "Wakey wakey Terri." Ketu and Ratiasu both stared at Haruka as if to say, ooooookay. "Oh? You're already up? Sorry."

"Yeah, rudely woken up by a certain someone," said Ratiasu shooting a menacing glance at Ketu who just smiled pleasantly.

"Damn, I missed the best part," thought Haruka smiling to herself.

"Well now that I'm awake I hope you don't mind to get out while I get changed. Then you can tell me why you had to wake me up so abruptly," said Ratiasu opening her wardrobe.

"Alright we'll wait for you outside," said Ketu gesturing for Haruka to leave with him. They both went out and closed the door. Ketu sighed and paced around, "so Rika didn't Chojiro ask only one of us to come?"

"He did, but I felt like joining in on the fun, and besides, its better if we all arrive at the same time isn't it?"

"I guess." Ketu shrugged, "Whatever, I wonder what the urgent call is though, to suddenly request us three to meet him in division one headquarters, must be something important."

Ratiasu's bedroom door opened and she stepped out in her stunningly pretty vermillion soul reaper outfit tied with a large vermillion bow at her back.

"Wow, you look fabulous Terri, I'm loving all the vermillion."

"Awww, how kind, thanks Ket," she said delightedly turning around and showing him her outfit. "Anyway, so that's what this is about eh? Chojiro asked us three to report to him?"

"Yep, he told us to meet him ASAP in front of division one headquarters. No time to waste chit-chatting then, when he sent the hell butterfly it sounded pretty urgent. Maybe they found Usaitar or something," replied Ketu.

"That'd be good, I'd love to get my back again him," said Haruka forcefully.

"Well anyway, let's go," commanded Ketu, turning around.

"Sure." All three set off and flash stepped their way to division one. A few second later they arrived. Ratiasu first, followed by Haruka, then Ketu half a second later. Chojiro already was standing there patiently waiting for them.

"I see you three made it in good time, marvelous, if you will please follow me." And without another word Chojiro disappeared into division one's building. Ketu shrugged and lead the two girls in. Inside was a magnificent entrance hall with a large staircase in the middle leading upstairs and four doors at the four corners of the hall. Chojiro lead them through the door immediately right as you walk in. This is a small room with a large chandelier for light and nothing else apart from a flight of stairs down into the basement.

"Hey wait, isn't this the seireitei library?" asked Ketu as he stopped just short of the stairs looking down after Chojiro.

"You have a good eye captain Zakura, have you perhaps been to the library before?" replied Chojiro.

"No, I just heard from Crystal that it was under division one in an extremely large basement. And this looks to be it."

"You have good deduction skills, now shall we continue, our guest if waiting."

"Guest? Who?" interrupted Ratiasu who sounded intrigued.

"You'll see vice-captain Zakihara, I'm sure you know him quite well," Chojiro continued down the flight of stairs, the three of them followed.

They stepped down into the library it was rather dark until Chojiro switched on the lights. The library then came into much clearer view as many as 50 to 60 chandeliers lit up and illuminated the vast area. They were standing at the bottom of the stairs in the middle between as many as 50 rows of shelves full of books and countless number of columns of shelves.

"Aww, did you have to turn on the light? I was enjoy the dark them, it was fun," said a familiar voice coming out from behind one of the shelves.

"Crystal, is that you?" asked Haruka.

Crystal poked her head out from behind a shelve, "oh you're here," she said surprisingly, she disappeared again, "hey cous they're here."

"Oh?" came Shunsui's voice sounding like it was quite far away, "bring them over then."

"Sure," Crystal shouted back. She stepped out from behind the shelves, "hi guys, good of you to make it, it's been a while since we've seen each other. It's been a month roughly right? Since I went with Shunsui. Let's just get down to business then, come follow me. Oh and by the way, you look fabulous today Terri, love the red."

"I'll just be off then," said Chojiro bowing his way out.

"Ok, thanks a lot," exclaimed Crystal. "Well don't just stand there," she flash stepped behind the three of them and pushed them forwards, "come on come on, let's move it, just follow me."

"Erm, sure but what's this about anyway?" asked Ketu looking puzzled.

"Don't worry, you'll find out, my cousin will explain, just follow me for now," said Crystal flash stepping in front of them and leading the way. Ketu obediently obeyed and the three of them followed Crystal through shelves full of books. She led them for fiveish minutes until they ended up in a small dark corner of the library with a door at the end which labeled "_Ancient Texts_".

"Ancient texts? What's this about?" inquired Ratiasu.

"Be patient Terri," replied Crystal. "Hey cousin, we're here and I've brought them along."

"Wonderful, I think we should all have a drink together," said Shunsui opening the door.

"Now's not the time to be funny, it's serious," scowled Crystal.

"Come on, relax I'm sure we have time for one cup of tea at least."

"No, now get back in there," said Crystal pushing Shunsui back into the room, Ketu, Ratiasu and Haruka went in after her. The door shut silently behind them by itself.

"So? What's this about?" asked Ketu again politely.

Crystal and Shunsui didn't reply but carried on walking deeper into the room, a minute or two later they arrived at a dark end lit by a candlelight held by a very familiar person.

"Hi, nice to see you all again," said a smiling Jushiro Ukitake. He was wearing a light brown kimono, and a brown short sleeved haori.

"Woah, Captain Ukitake, it's been, way too long, nice to see you again, how have you been?" exclaimed Ketu.

"I've been better, but I'm holding on quite well, we can worry about greetings later, but at the moment we don't have much time. Oh and don't call me captain anymore, I mean I haven't been captain in ages, just Jushiro will do."

"Sure thing Jushiro, but what do you mean by we don't have much time?" Ketu said thinking hard. Ratiasu and Haruka stayed silent behind Ketu.

"Well, as we all know Usaitar knows the whereabouts of the last piece of his sword correct?" Everyone nodded, "I believe it'll be about another month or two before he finds it. In that time we need to prepare."

"Woah, hold it, how do you know it's another month or two? And what do you mean prepare?" asked Haruka interrupting.

"I believe it to be another month because, the hollow numbers in the real world has decreased at the start of his search, I believe the reason is that he was using the hollows to help search. Recently the hollow numbers have started rising again, which means that he's nearly found it so he does' need that many hollows to help anymore. This is still just mere speculation however, but it's better to act first anyway and maybe even catch him off guard."

"You have a good point there," agreed Haruka nodding. "So, how are we suppose to act then?"

"First of all, we need to get stronger, we know Usaitar is very powerful and can easily kill us in our present state. We need to train ourselves and become much stronger than we are now and only then will we be able to beat him."

"Easier said than done," interrupted Ketu.

"I agree, but do you remember Usaitar mentioning something about a fourth release?"

"Yeah, Usaitar and Hisaigo both mentioned something about a fourth release, but I thought it's impossible. Bankai is the final release isn't it?" questioned Haruka.

"It's true that there can't be a release after bankai, but who said you can't have another release after shikai?" Ketu's eyes widened as if to say 'ahhhh'. "I discovered a book on the branched release from shikai when I had so much time on my hands so I spent it in the library. The release itself need an incantation by the user of the sword, good thing is, it uses as much spiritual energy as bankai so you can hold it for quite a long time, and it's far more powerful than bankai. I don't know how much more powerful I just know that their powers are miles apart."

"So, how do you achieve this new release?" asked Haruka cheerfully.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself this release will take a while to achieve but very luckily it'll take as long as you need to finish the requirements."

"Requirements?" said Ratiasu.

"Let me explain, and try not to interrupt. First of all this release is only achievable by three swords i.e. three people," Ketu looked as if he was about to say something but Jushiro but a hand out to stop him. "These three swords are unique, as they are surprisingly the oldest swords in seireitei surviving for hundreds of years. They are the three dragon swords," Jushiro saw the expressions on Ketu, Ratiasu and Haruka's faces and nodded to confirm what they thought, "yes, you are correct, these three swords belong to the three of you." The three of them was stunned, to say the least, but didn"t say anything. Jushiro walked over to a shelf next to them and picked out a huge book which was about four times length of the fifth Harry Potter book and three times wider. "These books are all in the ancient language of soul society so it was hard to translate but this book has all the information needed to obtain the fourth release. I'm not going to read to you what it says because that'll take forever, I'll just give you a summary." He opened the book up at one section and revealed a square gap about a third in of the book in the middle of the pages. And also a few ripped pages. "As you can see this book has been ripped before, but luckily they managed to retrieve all the pages, just not what was inside two of three of the square boxes thought I'm sure I know where they are." He flipped through a few pages, everyone was watching and waiting. "Firstly, the release is called **"**DORAKAI**"**, which stands for dragon release." He coughed and paused, "the release is triggered by two things, an incantation and a dragon pendant with two filled eye holes."

"Wait, you don't mean-," started Ratiasu.

"I do, the pendants that's mentioned in this book is the exact ones you and Ketu are wearing right at this moment." Instinctively both Ratiasu and Ketu took their pendants/necklaces out and took a look.

"What do you mean two filled eye holes?" asked Ketu.

"Take a close look at the dragon's head, do you notice that its eyes are missing?"

"Oh yeah," agreed Ketu after close inspection

"Exactly, you need to fill those eye holes with the specific eyes and are compatible with the correct owner of the pendant." Ketu just stared at Jushiro with a blank and puzzled expression. "This book tells us the location of one of each of the eyes and its name." Jushiro coughed, looked at Haruka and her saddened face reminded him about the third necklace. "Ah not to worry Haruka, I know what you want," he turned to near the end of the book and took out a dragon necklace from a box in the book. "Here you go, the only one that wasn't stolen." He looked back and Ketu and Ratiasu, "I'm still amazed at how you wound up with the necklaces in the first place, I guess it was destiny. But anyway enough about that." He turned to the first section of the book, "All the eyes are situated in the real world so all three of you will need to go there to get them. Ratiasu's first eye is called the "Eye of Virtue" and it says it's in a country called England in a small town named Bebington, and apparently the pendant itself will guide you the rest of the way and likewise for Ketu and Haruka." He turned to the second section. "Your first Ketu, is called the "Eye of Benevolence" fits you I must say, it's located in the country of Italy, in the city of Venice." He turned back into the last section, "and lastly your first is called the "Eye of Divinity" Haruka, in Tokyo, Japan. The book doesn't mention anything about the second eye so I presume you'll know where to go when the time comes. But you three must first set off to these three locations. Also the book mentions that there are fierce and powerful monsters guarding the eyes that only the true holders of the dragon swords will be able to beat, so be ready for a fight once you've discovered the eyes. Don't worry about the incantations, according to the book you'll know it the instant you've obtained both eyes. And on that note I'm finished. Any questions?" The three shook their heads, "good, then I suggest you three better set off, the faster you get these eyes the faster we can surprise attack Usaitar and hopefully it'll be before he gets his last piece of his sword." He put the book back to where it originally was, "now for this mission a lot of captains and vice-captains have volunteered themselves to help you out, so you will leave seireitei in groups of three and go to your specific destinations. First Ratiasu will leave via the eastern seireitei exit to England and accompanying her is Crystal, Shunsui, Rukia, Kenpachi and Yachiru, I'm surprised those two volunteered for this, guess Kenpachi just wants a good fight, oh well. Secondly Ketu will leave via the north exit to Italy with, Raven, Byakuya, Renji, Izuru and Taetsuzaemon. A weird combination of people there I must say. Lastly, Haruka leaves via the southern exit to Japan with support from Hikari, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Naomi and surprising squad four's fourth seat Haodong Zhang. Apparently Hikari insisted that he came along as well. Anyway those are the groups, they should already be there so you three should hurry. I'm done here, I guess I should go back home and get some rest. Anyway see you guys later, and good luck."

"Yeah bye, thanks for helping us out," said Shunsui as the others said their farewells. "Well now, we'd better be off Terri, can I call you that? It's what Crystal always calls you."

"Sure," smiled Ratiasu.

"Good, then let's go Terri, I know how impatient Kenpachi can get."

Ketu held Ratiasu back, "promise me you'll return here in one piece."

"No need to worry Ket, I'll be fine, just make sure you come back as well."

Ketu smiled, Ratiasu was halfway turning around when she suddenly turned back wrapped her arms around Ketu's neck and kissed him. Shunsui faked a cough and they broke apart half-heartedly. "I'll be back, and you will as well, I know it." Ratiasu turned and flash stepped off with Shunsui and Crystal.

Ketu stood there and smiled to himself, a wolf-whistle from Haruka snapped him out of his day dream. "Shouldn't we be going as well?" asked Haruka.

"Oh… err… yes, of course," stuttered Ketu as he flash stepped off.

Haruka signed and also flash stepped away.

**Come on people ****where's the "awwwwwwwwwwwwwww" that kiss scene was cute, don't you agree?**

**(From the scene where Ketu just walked into Ratiasu's room when she was sleeping) Not to worry they are sort of married if you've read the backgrounds, I mean they've been alone for a few years, what do you expect them to do? Actually don't answer that.**

**I'm on a geography trip next week, and then I've got work the week after that, I'm working at the golf open championships in royal birkdale if anyone was wondering, so if the worst happens the next chp won't be up until three weeks from today, but I may be working I'll still try and get the next chp written, so I may have it two weeks from now**

**Btw sorry for all the blocks of writing, but I couldn't find a place to put paragraphs**


	27. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25 – Step into the real world (****now I'm going to follow each character missions in turn, starting with Ratiasu's first dragon eye****)**

'Sorry we're late, here we are,' shouted Shunsui as he, Ratiasu and Crystal arrived at the eastern exit gate of seireitei.

'Tch, what took you so long, I was getting bored with all this waiting,' shouted back Kenpachi who was sitting on the floor, Yachiru sitting on his shoulder. Crystal, Shunsui and Ratiasu all flash stepped instantly and arrived next to him.

'Sorry, we got held up by a little something,' smiled Shunsui in an amusing voice.

'Whatever let's just get going,' Kenpachi stood up and his height towered above them all.

'Yaaayyyy, let's go have some fun Kenny'll beat up the bad guys easily,' cheered Yachiru on Kenpachi's back.

'Glad of you to make it Terri, let's do our best,' said Rukia walking over to Ratiasu and patting her on the back.

'I'm happy to have you with us Rukia, you've been a great help to me,' said Ratiasu beaming.

'Alright people, shall we?' shouted Shunsui as he stood next to the gate.

'About time,' said Kenpachi. Ratiasu stepped forward through the gate and everyone followed behind.

The six of them rushed through the dark tunnel that linked the two worlds at high pace and was on the other side within a couple of second. They jumped out and landed on a soft patch of grass. This patch of grass was on a hill or some sorts two sides surrounded by two long fences, the other two boxed in with half fences and three streets leading off the field. Two on two corners of the field and one in the middle of a fence. Houses loomed over the fences and even more houses could be seen downhill. Also what looks like a few large fields were a mile away surrounding a large building. It was morning by the looks of where the sun was and there wasn't anyone here.

'So anyone know where we are?' asked Crystal looking around.

'Ha ha, I know, we're at exactly where we are meant to be right?' shouted an overexcited Yachiru.

'No, actually. Hmm.. Wait a minute, I borrowed a map from the library,' Shunsui took out from underneath his Kimono a small book titled 'Map of Wirral.' 'Hmmm…. Jushiro actually taught me how to read this, just wait here a moment.' He flash stepped off.

'What more waiting, screw this I'm off,' shouted Kenpachi.

'Yeah Kenny and I can find the way no problem,' said Yachiru.

'We'll meet you there, wherever it is,' and without another word Kenpachi ran off with the speed of a jet and disappeared down one of the streets with Yachiru on his back.

'Hey, wait, you can't just-' started Ratiasu who looked like she was about to run after them.

'Leave it, I doubt he'd listen to us anyway,' said Rukia holding out a hand to stop her.

Ratiasu sighed, 'I guess so,' and sat down. There was a light breeze that blew over this hill, the sun was shining brightly with only a few clouds in the sky. By the looks of things it was the beginning of spring. A minute later Shunsui arrived back.

'Helloo, guess who's back,' said Shunsui.

'Just cut to the chase cous,' said Crystal who was lying on the grass.

'Alright, well we are at a village called Oxton, after studying the streets I've determined that we aren't far from Bebington. It should take us only a few minutes to flash step over there, problem is we weren't told where to go when we get there.'

'We'll know, I have this feeling that I'll know where I need to go as soon as we get there,' said Ratiasu.

'Wonderful, then that's that sorted, well then,' he looked around, 'where's Kenpachi and Yachiru?'

'They kinda went off,' said Crystal, who was standing up now and ready to leave.

'It's always them two,' sighed Shunsui, 'oh well, I'm sure Kenpachi can take care of himself, but for the moment we'll just set off on our own then. Let's go.' Everyone nodded and flash stepped off with Shunsui leading the way.

They all flash stepped up into the sky and traveled swiftly along rooftops with Shunsui in the lead one eye on the road one on his map. They traveled parallel to a busy road which despite the rush-hour had only a load of vehicles going in one direction. There were teenagers everywhere in school uniforms chatting to each other happily, not a care in the world. A few bus stops with more students and working age people. A few busses went along the road stopping occasionally at the lights and stops. Shunsui reach a crossroad and stopped on top of a two storey high building.

'Hmm...' He looked left and right. And a second later pointed right, 'this way' he said flash stepped off without a moment's hesitation.

'Slow down dammit,' shouted Crystal flash stepping after him. Ratiasu and Rukia followed closely behind.

A minute later Shunsui stopped abruptly again making Crystal crash into him nearly causing him to fall off the roof he was standing on.

'Woah slow down there little cous,' said Shunsui in a lazy voice.

'Shut up, if you didn't flash step off so fast I wouldn't have needed to speed up,' she shouted at him, as Ratiasu and Rukia both appeared next to her.

Shunsui completely ignored Crystal and just kept looking at his map. This time they had stopped on top of a semi-detached house which was next to a road that had a small forest across the roads. A few other streets linked up with this one by two roundabouts at the end, only a few cars drove on this road.

'Let's go,' said Shunsui suddenly and he disappeared in a flash. Ratiasu and Rukia wasted no time and were behind him in an instant. After letting out a cry of annoyance Crystal flash stepped after him as well.

They flash stepped on rooftops fast a two small churches, one had a cemetery. They passed a small group of shops and a petrol station. Soon they were into another residential area, a primary school came into view as they turned a left at the end of a row of houses. Shunsui kept going until they reached what looked like two secondary/high schools.

'Well, here we are. Welcome to Bebington,' said Shunsui stopping just short of the schools. 'Feel anything yet Terri?'

'Yeah, I do, my instincts tell me to go into that school over there,' said Ratiasu pointing to one of the high schools that seemed to be a boys' school as only boys went in. And the other school only girls went in.

'Let's check it out then,' said Rukia, and they all flash stepped in front of the entrance to the school. The school from the outside looked normal, a long building with two doors, one was labeled visitor's entrance and another labeled student's entrance. Also the school had a gate on the far left where cars could get in. There was currently some sort of construction work going on in this school as there was an unfinished building with several cement fixers scattered around. A file of steel poles and sheets dumped on one side and a lorry was bringing in more steel. The school was two storeys tall except the far right end of the building which was a tower block at five storeys high. They looked around and there was no one around so they entered the school through the student entrance way.

'Anything?' asked Shunsui turning to Ratiasu, as they walked around a few corridors of the school.

'Yeah, it's like the necklace is guiding me towards the eye, I know exactly where it is.' Ratiasu started walking but then suddenly the bell rang.

'What's this?' asked Crystal looking around the corridor they were in.

'Well if you didn't know it's called a bell ringing,' said Shunsui in a humorous voice.

Crystal frowned at him, 'I know that much, but what does it mean?'

'I think we're about to find out,' said Shunsui as people's voices and footsteps grew louder and many children and teenagers started appearing from classrooms and hallways. 'Looks like it's getting a bit crowded, we need to disappear.' As soon as he said that he flash stepped away and out of the school, the others did as well.

'Hmm… looks like we won't be able to get anywhere with so many people around, they may not be able to see us but if they bump into us then that may cause problems. We should come back later.'

'Can't we just go get some gigais and search like that?' asked Rukia curiously.

'Well by the time we manage to get the gigais it'll probably be night and there'll be no one in anyway, and even if we do get gigais I doubt we'll be allowed in the school,' answered Shunsui.

'Yeah I guess you're right, we'll wait then.' And they did, when lunch came they had to move further away because people wearing suits kept coming out and going back in, probably the older students of the school. Nothing interesting happened until they saw a comical Kenpachi up in the sky literally flying at top speed going in a completely wrong direction.

'Well, as always that Kenpachi has no sense of direction. It's almost laughable even, a captain ranked soul reaper who can't tell his left from his right. Ah well, at least he know his way back to seireitei.' Shunsui lay down on the field of grass close to the school and immediately fell asleep!

Suddenly Ratiasu stood up and walked off, 'I'm gonna go check out a few things, stay here, I'll be back.'

'Alright, wake me up when you return,' said Shunsui still lying on the grass.

'Hey wait, I'm going too,' shouted Rukia, walking after her.

'No, if two people go there's more of a chance someone will bump into us, it's safer if I go on my own. Besides,' she turned around and smiled, 'I'll only be a minute.' She flash stepped away. Rukia sighed and sat down.

The time was exactly 1:50pm Ratiasu entered the school through the student entrance again and wandered around the place. The corridors and hallways were empty, it seemed that everyone was at lessons. She walked by what seemed like a computer room. Suddenly the sounds of footsteps loomed behind her, one of the sounds was distinctively louder than the others. She turned around and two people were approaching. She moved out their way and flash stepped behind them, only to crash into someone who was running after them.

'Argghh, what the hell,' he said as he fell down.

'You're retarded HD, how the hell did you manage trip over the floor,' laughed one of the boys ahead.

'I don't know, though, it felt as if I bumped into something,' said the boy getting up thoughtfully.

'Did you bump into air? Awww poor you,' taunted the other boy.

'Shut up, let's just get going or we may not get a computer,' the boy ran ahead of them.

'Eh wait up HD.' Both the other boys went after him.

Ratiasu let out a sigh of relief as she saw all three boys disappear. 'Phew, that was a close one, guess I need to be more careful in the future. Good thing those three couldn't see me as well.' After that she kept was constantly alert as she explored the school. She had to hide twice more when the bell rang again and again. Eventually after exploring the music rooms, the tower block, the rest of the down stairs and second floor, she went outside to two modern square buildings, one with a flat roof and the other with a pyramidal roof, next to each other, one was larger than the other. The smaller one had two doors visible from the front quite a ways apart from each other; one of the doors was labeled 'Chemistry Lab 2' and the other was 'Science Lab 1'. She walked past them and went to the other building which was labeled 'Design and Technology. She sensed nothing so she carried on moving. There were a few mobiles in the yard of the school. Suddenly she sensed a faint presence of the eye, so she moved towards where she sensed the eye was. But just as suddenly the bell ran once more and within minutes, teenagers were flooding out of classrooms, she didn't dare risk being there again so she flash stepped back to where the others were.

'I'm back,' said Ratiasu as she walked back towards her friends.

'About time too, the people are leaving the school,' said Shunsui who was already standing up looking as if he's ready to go somewhere.

'Oh?' Ratiasu turned around and looked at the entrance of the school. But she couldn't see it as it was blocked out of sight by four busses with students hastily clambering on.

'Looks like we can investigate soon hope it doesn't take too long,' said Crystal.

'Oh, by the way, I think I know where the eye is. I had this sudden feeling where I could sense its presence, so I'm sure we'll be able to find it pretty quickly when we get back in there,' reassured Ratiasu.

'That's good.' Everyone was ready, and the busses left one by one and the students scurried off home. An hour later and the place was completely deserted. They waited until they saw the last teachers go and for the caretaker to lock the gate.

'Ok, let's move,' commanded Shunsui as they all jumped over the gate.

'This way, follow me,' said Ratiasu and she took the lead. A minute later they arrived at the music room. A single mobile building that was on the far left side of the school near the tower block surrounded by two metal fences.

'Erm, are you sure it's here?' asked Crystal.

'Yes, I'm sure, the feeling's getting stronger, I know it's in there.' Ratiasu tried to push the door open but it won't budge.

'Allow me,' said Shunsui as Ratiasu moved out the way. Shunsui moved back a bit and ran full speed at the door and smashed it door with ease.

'Nicely done,' complimented Crystal. They entered the music room. Immediately to their left was a row of guitars lying next to each other on a rack similar to a bike rack. The centre of the room was filled up with up to forty chairs. A desk stood behind the chairs. A white board was at the very front of the room along with a drum kit and a piano. They walked further in; at the back were two rooms which both doors were locked. There were a few large shelves that was stacked full of instrument cases such as violin, flute, oboe and such like.

'Thanks. So er Terri. Any ideas?'

'Yes,' said Ratiasu quietly as she slowly approached the piano. She cautiously stood next to it and touched a key. As soon as her hand came into contact with the key her necklace started to glow. The floors shock violently for a split second and a ceramic crown rose out slowly from the top of the piano and a silver orb sat on top of the crown. 'The eye of Virtue,' thought Ratiasu, then she shouted with excitement, 'we've found it, this must be it. This was easier tan expected' She joyfully reached for it, but before she could lay her hands oh it the ground below her exploded and she went flying into the air. 'Crap, guess I spoke to soon.'

Eight huge tentacles shot out of the ground and a giant octopus creature emerged from below. Rukia quickly rushed up and grabbed Ratiasu before she fell.

'You okay?' asked Rukia as she let Ratiasu down.

'No need to worry,' Ratiasu replied. They both turned back to face the creature and saw that Shunsui and Crystal were both unconscious lying on the floor with pools of blood beneath them. 'Shit, what happened to them.' Just as she said that the monster dug one of its tentacles into the ground and it immediately appeared out of the ground underneath Ratiasu. She moved swiftly and it only cut her arm a bit.

'Does that answer your question?' said Rukia as they both backed off further from the monster until their backs was against the fence that surrounded the music room. They both drew their swords and prepared to attack.

'We'll take it down with speed,' and she charged at the monster, 'Flash, Doragonsumiyaka,' she said and disappeared instantly a second later a tentacle was cut and blood burst out of the wound as Ratiasu appeared behind the monster.

'Nicely done, dance, Sode no Shirayuki,' said Rukia as her sword was released. 'Second dan-' suddenly one of the tentacles appeared through Rukia's chest, blood streamed out and she collapsed forwards. The monster carried on its attack, picked Rukia up and threw her into the music room smashing a hole in the roof and shattering the windows as well.

'Rukia,' screamed Ratiasu and she tried to run towards her but she didn't notice that one of her legs was caught by the monster's tentacles and she tripped as the monster lifted her up by her ankle, she dropped her sword. 'Get off me you freak,' she shouted as she tried to get the tentacles of her feet.

The monster didn't listen instead it raised its remaining six free tentacles transformed each one into a pointed end and directed them all at Ratiasu.

'Shit, I'm in trouble,' she thought as she stared at her doom. The tentacles moved and darted straight for Ratiasu, she quickly shut her eyes. Without warning a maniacal laugh which she recognized as Kenpachi's came form above her. The laugh was then followed by a higher pitched cheery laugh, which obviously belong to Yachiru. She opened her eyes and was just able to catch the moment when Kenpachi's spiritual energy surrounded self blasted into the monster. The ground shook violently and cracked open. The buildings next to this toppled and crumbled away into the ground raising a dense dust cloud around it.

Ratiasu was instantly released and she wasted no time going straight for her sword.

'You can't have a rumble without me now, can you?' said Kenpachi as he stepped out from the dust cloud.

'Yeah, only Kenny can beat up the bad guys,' Yachiru joined in smiling happily as if it was all fun and games. Ratiasu just frowned at them, until an abrupt roar from behind Kenpachi broke up the silence. The monster wasn't dead and it was back up tentacles flying around in the air ready for attack.

'So, not dead yet huh? Guess I'll have a bit more fun,' Kenpachi didn't even wait a second; he rushed straight in and attacked.

'Yay, go get 'em Kenny,' cheered Yachiru jumping up and down.

'Hey wait, don't be so hasty,' shouted Ratiasu, but it was too late and anyway Kenpachi was never going to listen to her. 'Dammit, forget him, I need to get that eye,' she thought. She searched around and saw that the eye in the crown was sitting on top of the octopus's head.

'Damn, if only Hikari was with me. She'd have thought of a plan with ease. Guess I'm on my own with a freaky maniac and a crazy pink haired kid,' she sighed. Kenpachi was swinging his sword left and right blocking the tentacles attacking him that have become as hard as rock. Yachiru was just jumping up and down near him screaming, 'go Kenny, go Kenny.' Kenpachi tried to get close for a close ranged attack but the tentacles always blocked his way.

'Hmm… Maybe, if Kenpachi can keep the monster occupied I'll be able to shoot it down with a ranged attack. If it doesn't kill it, it'll at least stun it long enough for me to get the eye,' thought Ratiasu. 'Alright then. Bankai.' She glowed brightly with spiritual energy as two wings sprout from her back. Surprisingly nobody noticed that she had released her bankai. Probably because both Yachiru and Kenpachi's ability to sense spiritual pressure is minimal. She jumped up silently high above the monster and Kenpachi. 'Ok, gotta aim this right.' She pulled her sword back as it shortened, she took aim, 'shoot 'em dead, Shinso.' The extended out with the speed of a bullet and went directly for the monster's head where the crown was.

Kenpachi saw the blade approaching and jumped back away from the monster. Unfortunately the monster had also seen the blade approaching and raised two tentacles to block. The force of the blade pushed the monster backwards into the wall of a gym. The walls collapsed on top of it, and it was completely hidden behind a veil of dust once more.

'Hey, ya missed,' shouted Kenpachi up at her. Ratiasu ignore him and kept an eye on where the monster disappeared. A sharp tentacle shot out from the dust unexpectedly aimed at Ratiasu.

'Oh I didn't see that coming,' she said sarcastically. She flash stepped to dodge and charged straight down for the monster. A few more tentacles shot at her. 'Snap, Tobiume.' She swung her blade at the monster and blasted a few fireballs at the tentacles. They hit and exploded due to the impact, the tentacles stopped and gave her a few seconds of time, she raised her hand and chanted 'One thousand years of the world, words that were never spoken, carried away by silver wings. Time will never pass, but the white dragon flies at midnight, the blue eyes will shine and the moon will be silenced. Wave of destruction, number one: white thunder.' A huge beam of lightning fired out of her hand and crashed into the monster's head. The blast sent a huge shockwave around it shattering all the windows near by. The force of the blast also sent the crown and eye flying.

She smiled, seeing the eye fly and flash stepped immediately to grab it. 'Gotcha.' As soon as her hands were gripped around the eye, a horrible screech came from the monster below as if glowed yellow for a split second and disintegrated.

'Tch, that wasn't even enough for a warm up,' said Kenpachi, unsatisfied.

'Ah well, you'll get another fight soon, don't worry Kenny,' said Yachiru still in her happy high voice.

Ratiasu landed her hand clutching the eye. 'So, what am I suppose to do with this?' to answer that question the eye started to glow and floated out of her hand.

'Well done Ratiasu, you have obtained the Eye of Virtue,' said a voice that came from the eye. 'There's one more to go. Be at the pyramid of Abu Rawash in twenty days and be prepared,' you could barely make out the last few words as the eye floated closer to Ratiasu and disappeared into her necklace.

'Abu Ra-what?' Pyramids?' what the hell was that about,' asked Kenpachi.

'Sounds like a load of fun,' said Yachiru joyously.

'Don't know, but let's worry about that later.' She walked over to Rukia and picked her up. 'Come on Kenpachi, could you get Shunsui and Crystal?'

'What a pain, it's their fault for getting stabbed,' complained Kenpachi but he did as she asked. Yachiru jumped on his shoulders as well.

'Let's not linger any longer, I don't want to be here when everyone returns and they see that we've trashed their school,' said Ratiasu jumping on a roof.

'Whatever.' Kenpachi followed, and they both flash stepped out of sight.

The fight left its mark on the school, which had to be closed for a while after. The students were ecstatic.

**Note**: I just gave some random information about the area I live in.

**I'm off to work at the Open Golf Championships in Royal Birkdale now, but i will be able to get the next chp up next week i think anyway. My school finishes this week, yay**


	28. Chapter 26

**Chapter ****26 – Good friends are those who try to kill each other (****Now Haruka's first eye, starting immediately after they emerge from the portal to the real world****)**

A gate appeared in the sky of Tokyo and Haruka, Hikari, Hitsugaya, Haodong, Naomi and Matsumoto jumped out. They landed on top of a tall department store, on the roof. No one was around here, but below people crowded the streets like little ants scurrying around. Cars filled the roads moving slowly due to the packed traffic. The air smelt like car fumes, but the city looks beautiful with its many sky scrapers and breath-taking scenery surrounding it.

'Ah Tokyo, it's been so long. We should go shopping,' exclaimed Matsumoto

'We're here for a purpose, not shopping, focus Matsumoto,' said Toshiro sternly.

'Aww, you're no fun.'

Toshiro ignored her and looked over at Haruka, 'Do you have any ideas as to the eye's location?'

'Er… Well… Not, really,' said Haruka nervously. Toshiro frowned at her in annoyance.

'Don't worry Rika, you'll get it eventually. I suggest we should split up into two groups and look around for possible locations.'

'Sounds good Kari,' agreed Haodong.

'Me, Haodong and Rika will go as one group then,' she pointed at the other three, 'and you three as another.'

'Sure,' said Toshiro.

'We'll look near the hills then and you three look around in the city, meet back here in three hours,' commanded Hikari. Her group flash stepped away.

'Let's go captain,' said Matsumoto. The rest flash stepped off as well.

A second later they arrived on the streets.

'Yay, shopping time,' cheered Matsumoto happily.

'For the last time we have a mission to do. And we are going to do it.'

'Only kidding captain.' Behind Matsumoto, Naomi giggled.

'Grrr… let's go already,' growled Toshiro walking off on his own.

'Hey wait up captain.' Matsumoto ran after him, Naomi followed.

For the next two hours the three of them roamed the overcrowded streets of Toyko in search of anything suspicious, but found nothing of interest. They arrived back on the roof top but the Haruka and the other two wasn't there. The sun has set and it was dark.

'Hmm… wonder where they are,' asked Naomi, 'usually when Hikari sets a time she always abides by it. So this is rather strange.'

Unexpectedly a huge explosion lit up the sky. Toshiro automatically looked over the where it originated from.

'What the,' exclaimed Toshiro looking over at a mountain about a kilometre away. Another explosion occurred from the exact same spot on the mountain.

'That spiritual pressure, I think it's Haodong's,' said Naomi.

'Let's go,' ordered Toshiro. They set off immediately for the mountain.

--

Some time earlier

'Sense anything?' asked Hikari. They were walking around a small hill with a small forest on top.

'Not a thing,' sighed Haruka.

'Don't worry we'll get it eventually.' They rambled around the countryside for about an hour or so before something happened.

They were at the foot of a mountain and suddenly Haruka started sensing something, 'Wait, I think we should go up this mountain,' said Haruka stopping abruptedly at the bottom of a long flight of stairs going up the mountain.

'That was random,' said Haodong.

'Indeed, so let's go,' said Hikari and she started climbing the stairs first.

'Meh.' Haruka and Haodong went up as well.

Half an hour later they had reached a platform of some sort. A stone gateway stood in front of them as they reached the last step. The gate had a large label on it, but if was written in some ancient language that no one can understand.

A stone wall stood thirty metres in front of them with a large hole in the middle which resembled a cave, but the cave entrance was a perfect rectangular shape and looked very unnatural.

'In there,' she said pointing at the cave. They walked to the entrance and Hikari stopped to observe it.

'That cave looks like it only has been dug out recently, very new. You can tell by the fact that the rocks here have had no damage done to them,' said Hikari after studying the entrance. Suddenly she sensed a presence of spiritual pressure behind her and immediately turned round drawing her sword.

'What's wrong?' asked Haruka and Haodong.

'Him,' said Hikari nodding to a person who had appeared out of no where in the middle of the platform.

'You have a good eye little girl. This cave is newly dug, by hollows I might add. Usaitar ordered us here to try and find an eye of some sort. Either that or wait for you lot to turn up. So me and my team of hollows decided to try and find this eye thing, who knows what this iss about. Oops guess I said too much already, oh well,' said the person who came into view. It was an arrancar, he was wearing a great white overcoat that reached down to his foot normal arrancar trousers, blue eyes and short blonde hair, sword on his waist.

'Who are you?' asked Hikari forcefully.

'Me? My name is of no importance to you. But I will tell you that I am known as the Shu Zi, the arrancars under the Wu Jian. I am number seventy-two,' he said as he rolled up his sleeves to reveal a number seventy-two tattooed on his arm.

'That voice, it sounds so familiar. I wonder could it be?' thought Haodong quietly studying the arrancar. 'No, that's ridiculous, what am I thinking, it can't possibly be… but maybe…'

The arrancar had started speaking again, 'I'm afraid I cannot let you three pass through the tunnel. My team has worked ever so hard to get to the end, I'm not just going to let some soul reapers come by and ruin their work.'

'Who do you think you are,' said Hikari drawing her sword. Haruka also drew hers and both readied themselves for a fight, when Haodong unexpectedly put a hand in front of them.

'Wait, you two go on ahead, let me handle this one,' he said in a serious voice.

'But, will you be alright,' asked Hikari.

'No need to worry I'll be fine. Trust me Kari.'

Hikari nodded and resheathed her sword, 'Don't you dare die on my Haodong.' Haodong smiled at her. Haruka and Hikari both ran off down the cave.

'You're not getting away that easily,' shouted the arrancar as he used sonido and appeared a second later at the cave entrance and slashed down at Haodong, who quickly pulled out his sword and blocked. The arrancar flipped back up into the air and fired a cero. Haodong jumped up, dodged it and attacked slashing and hacking repeatedly forcing the arrancar to be on the defense and moving back away from the cave. The two swords clashed violently until there was a deadlock. They both pushed away from each other and landed a few metres away from each other.

'You fight pretty well there,' said the arrancar though it was in an insulting tone.

'I don't need your compliments,' said Haodong calmly. He thought, 'that fighting style, it's so familiar, where have I seen it before?'

'Day dreaming at a time like this? Well, I'm not bothered, after all, this is your funeral,' said the arrancar and charged forwards.

'I don't think so,' replied Haodong. He too charged and their weapons clashed again. Haodong pushed the arrancar back and jumped after him letting off a barrage of slashes which were al successively blocked by the arrancar. Haodong jumped up and flipped over the arrancar landing behind it, as soon as he landed he swung around his sword aiming to slice the arrancar in half. The arrancar quickly turned his sword and body around and blocked the attack. Haodong twisted around and tried again for the other side which again was blocked. He changed his aim again and slashed upwards then downwards, left, sideways and did a sweeping movement to try and catch the arrancar's feet, all in quick succession. The arrancar had to jump back to evade the final attack.

Haodong saw his chance, 'hado number four, pale lightning,' he shouted as he pointed two fingers at the arrancar and shot a white stream of lightning at him. The arrancar didn't expect it and was instantly pierced through the shoulder. Haodong flash stepped next to it and drove the arrancar into a war with his left hand whilst lifting the sword close to the arrancar's throat with his right hand.

'You're not that tough after all are you?' sneered Haodong.

The arrancar let out a crazy laugh, 'you make me laugh so much mate, but will you really kill me?' The arrancar reached for the edge of his mask and took it off! 'Surprise,' he said as he revealed his true face, it was Matthew Richardson, former 20th seat of squad two.

'No wait, it can't be,' denied Haodong as he let go of the arrancar and backed away. 'But, but, Richo? It can't be, you're an arrancar, there's just no way. No.'

'Oh but there is, you see when I died at the hands of that other arrancar I was instantly turned into a hollow. Lucky for me Usaitar discovered me instantly and turned me into an arrancar, now thanks to him I can get my revenge. When I was killed you never even tried to save me, and you call yourself a friend, but that doesn't matter, I'm going to kill you here and now, just to see how you like being stabbed.'

'What do you mean I didn't try and save you? You got stabbed straight through the chest there was nothing I could do.'

'Save your excuses for when you're dead.'

'Bastard. You know, I've always wanted to kill you, you did annoy me a lot with that shit nickname you gave me.'

Matthew chuckled. 'Ah yes, that was funny.'

'Hmph, when we were friends you never were really strong.'

'But now that I'm arrancar, I've gained much strength, you will die. I will skewer you and prove now that you are weaker.'

'Ha, don't make me laugh, you couldn't beat me in a million years,' boasted Haodong

'Your strength doesn't come anywhere near mine.'

'Oh so all those fights we've had before, all those wins for me was just a fluke?'

'Tch, I was just going easy on you and you took me seriously? You're just pathetic lowlife.'

'Whatever, let's just get this over with, and I'll prove once more that I'm far more superior, you pink flamingo.'

'Bring it you imbecile and cut the crap insults.'

Haodong grabbed his sword with two hands in a ready position, 'Fine you hungry hippo.' He gripped his sword harder, 'Take Flight, Hitori.'

'That old trick again? Ha,' laughed Matthew. He directed his sword at his own chest and slowly stabbed inwards. 'Slither, Negro Serpiente.' His arrancar overcoat completely changed colour, into a black and grey snake scaled pattern. A crossbow slowly manifested on his left arm.

Haodong pointed his sword at Matthew and the fiery bird swooped down and aimed for Matthew. Matthew used sonido to evade the bird and appeared in the sky. He aimed the crossbow down and shot a volley of arrows. Haodong jumped back and waved his hand upwards, the bird followed his hand and climbed swiftly. Matthew turned around and shouted, 'cero,' with his palm directed at the bird. A large beam of red light shot straight through the bird splitting it in half. Haodong flash stepped up and appeared behind Matthew and slashed targeting Matthew's neck.

'You're too predictable,' smirked Matthew. He turned around with fast reflexes and grabbed Haodong's hand immobilizing him. He reached around with his left hand and pointed the crossbow at point blank range at Haodong. 'Now you die.' He fired another volley blowing up in Haodong's face and threw him onto the floor.

Haodong was completely covered with blood, but he was still conscious. He stabbed his sword into the ground and slowly pulled himself up coughing blood everywhere.

'Is that all you have?' he panted standing up.

'You're in no condition to continue. You had your chance to kill me at the start and you didn't do it.'

'Ha, this isn't enough to kill me.'

'Go to hell,' shouted Matthew and he ran at an amazing speed pointing his sword at Haodong.

'Ha, never thought I'd use it here, but I guess it's time to pull a new trick.' Haodong raised his blade up and gathered the fiery bird back into the blade, 'Bankai.' A fiery armour of some sort flowed out of the sword and completely swallowed him. Fiery wings sprouted from his back and his sword became a beam of fire. The fiery armour resembled that of a phoenix. '**Fenikkusu gusoku**.' As Matthew attacked Haodong parried it and quickly counter-attacked and slashed Matthew in the chest. Blood splattered noisy onto the floor. Haodong turned swiftly around and kicked Matthew in the face sending him flying back into the wall.

'Who'd knew the first person I'd have to use my bankai against is my old friend,' said Haodong mockingly walking towards the fallen Matthew.

'Hmph, even if it is a bankai, it's still not enough to beat me,' panted Matthew slowly getting to his feet, a trickle of blood came out of his mouth.

'You can still stand? Well done.'

'Idiot, don't patronize me. You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeves. Watch.' He waved his hand upwards and suddenly snakes shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around Haodong immobilizing him. Haodong tried desperately to free himself. 'Don't even bother, even with a bankai you could never break out of this. These snakes are immune to everything except extremely high spiritual pressure that only a captain would possess. But unluckily you're not a captain. This technique was taught to me by Usaitar, but I can only use it once. You should be honored I chose you to use it on. Do you see the difference between us now? It's strength.' He pulled his sword back, 'and you just don't have enough.' Matthew's sword glowed blue and he lunged striking through the fiery armour and piercing Haodong's chest.

Meanwhile in the cave Hikari just felt a sudden drop in Haodong's spiritual energy, 'Rika, I'm going back, something just happened and I don't like what I feel. Can you do this alone?'

'Sure, no problem, you just take care of that boy you like,' Haruka carried on walking through the cave.

'Thanks, I will be back,' Hikari turned and ran back through where she came.

Back to the fight, Haodong coughed and blood poured out from his mouth just as he lost consciousness.

'Poor Haodong's about to die,' laughed Matthew as Haodong's bankai disappeared. He pulled the sword out and kicked Haodong. Haodong slammed against the ground and went flying across it. Matthew walked slowly and calmly towards him with his sword on his shoulder. 'Looks at you now, you're a bloody mess, and to think you said you could beat me.' He stopped near Haodong's feet and directed his blade and Haodong's neck. 'As they say in Italian, arreverderci,' he thrusted his sword downwards to end Haodong's life.

**Note: why italian at the end? Don't ask me cus I don't know**

**Next chp up next week, schools finished and I'm FREE!!**


	29. Chapter 27

**Chapter ****27 – Kido, the best way to win**

Just as the blade was about to reach, someone intervenes just in the nick of time. Hikari blocked the blade and hoists Haodong on her shoulders and flash steps near the cave entrance where she sets him down lying against a wall.

'You again?' said Matthew in annoyance.

'Leave now or be killed,' said Hikari in her most threatening voice.

'Firstly can I ask who you are?' said Matthew politely!?

'I guess it is common courtesy to tell the person you're going to kill your own name. Very well, I am Hikari Uera. Captain of division 5.'

Matthew's eyes widened at the word captain, 'I see.'

'You've hurt my friend, now I can't let you live,' said Hikari forcefully. She walked one step forward as her spiritual energy enveloped her.

'I'm not afraid of you,' said Matthew as he jumped up into the air and blasted 10 successive arrows at her.

'You're just a weakling. Bankai, Gosai Rozehana.' Her blade shattered and each piece extended to that of a knife size. Ten flew up and intercepted the arrows splitting them in two, they carried on flying and stabbed into Matthew. He puked up tonnes of blood, hung in the air for a couple of seconds and dropped with a thud onto the ground. But Hikari wasn't finished yet she waved her hand in a circle above her and swung her hand in Matthew's direction. All blades that was above her zoomed at Matthew and slammed into him. There was a great explosion and the force of the blades blew Matthew down the mountain via the stairs they climbed up. Hikari reverted her sword back to normal and resheathed it.

'Kari, are you okay?' called Naomi suddenly appearing near her. Toshiro and Rangiku appeared a second later.

'I'm fine, but Haodong needs medical attention quick,' said Hikari hurriedly.

'What about Haruka? Where is she?' asked Toshiro looking around.

'She's in the cave, I'm sure she'll be fine but I need to get Haodong back to squad four, and fast, his breathing is faint.'

'I know, how about I and Captain Uera go back, and you two can stay and help out Haruka,' suggested Naomi, nodding at Toshiro and Rangiku.

'Sounds good, let's go Matsumoto,' ordered Toshiro and he set off into the cave without another word.

'Yes captain,' agreed Rangiku and she also followed.

'C'mon, let's hurry,' urged Hikari. She opened up a gate to seireitei and she and Naomi disappeared back to soul society.

--

Back in the cave, Haruka has just arrived in a large dome shaped room. The walls were rock but neatly arranged. In the centre of a room there was a large squad altar and in the middle of the altar was what looked like a hollow hand, and a golden eye sat in its palm.

'That must be the eye of divinity, I can feel it.' Haruka reached out her hand to touch it but just before she came in contact a force field of some sort instantly sent her flying off her feet. She back flipped and landed just before she hit the wall. Suddenly a huge light switched on above the altar and the gate of the tunnel she came through was sealed by a thick steel gate that rose out of the ground.

'Huh? Was that supposed to happen? Or did I just trigger a trap,' she asked herself. She walked over to the gate and knocked on it. She instantly knew that she wasn't going to escape that way, as the gate was made from a type of stone that absorbs spiritual energy so any type of attack from a soul reaper was going to be useless.

She searched around the other walls but there was nothing except a blank thick wall that would take months to blast apart. Finally she reduced herself to pacing in circles around the square alter. She even dared to try and get the eye again but obviously to no success and was blasted away just like the first time.

After pacing around the altar for the fiftieth time she began studying every inch of it.

If you are wondering what happened to Toshiro and Rangiku, well they're at the other end of the gate constantly shouting Haruka's name but the wall was too thick to let any sound through.

After studying the altar for some time she noticed a hole at one side of the altar. The hole was the exact shape of Haruka's sword guard and the whole was long enough for a sword to be put in.

'Oh? Could this be a clue?' so, out of instinct she pulled out her sword and stabbed it into the hole. Suddenly a large rumbling noise sounded from below her feet like something had just dropped, and just as suddenly the light above the alter went out, all was dark until a candle appeared on the wall opposite her and lit up a small piece of wall above it that had some writing on.

She hastily walked across to it with an, 'Ah, bugger, that hurt,' when she hit her left foot on the edge of the altar. She then hopped the rest of the wall massaging her foot. The message on the wall was written in another ancient language but somehow Haruka could read it.

'Let's see here. Hmm… Let the square be surrounded by light and your next path will be in your sight.' She took a moment to think, 'Square? Surrounded by light? It must mean the altar, but there's no light here?'

'Tch, isn't it obvious?' said a sudden cool female voice from inside Haruka.

'Hidoragon? Did you just say something to me?' thought Haruka surprisingly.

'Ah yes, well since we entered this room it felt like a part of me detached from you and I was able to speak to you, so guess my thought was correct.'

'Uh huh. Well then… light…'

'I guess I have to spell it out for you. To surround the alter with light, just bakudo sixty-one, six bars of light. I'd have thought that was obvious to such a highly skilled kido user such as yourself.

'Ah well, I just didn't remember straight away,' replied Haruka.

'Hurry up and do it then, I'm bored.'

'Alright, alright calm down,' Haruka walked gingerly forwards and felt the altar in front of her. 'Okay, 'Carriage of thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudo 61: Six Bars of Light!' Instantly the room was illuminated by six bars of light that surrounded itself against the square alter.

The light above the altar lit up and filled the room once again with its light. The alter itself began to shake and slowly it descended downwards until you could only see the surface of it. The eye sank away as well, and when it did the surface slide away revealing a large staircase leading downwards.

'Did it just take my sword with it?' asked Haruka with disbelief.

'It appears so, don't worry, just go down and I'm sure it'll turn up. Maybe this is part of some test. I know you can survive with just kido, after all you can use _that_ kido move.'

'Okay, okay, enough, I'm just gonna head downstairs now.' She stepped slowly and cautiously down the stairs which was all lit up by a regular pattern of torches on either side of the wall.

She stepped down to the bottom of the stairs and stopped at the beginning of a short hallway with a large door at the other end of the hallway within thirty metres away. She walked across the hallway with as little noise as possible and arrived before the door. Unfortunately it was locked but as soon as she touched it a large tablet rose out suddenly from the ground behind her.

'What's this?' On the tablet was there was written a few lines of text in the same ancient language. 'Let's see,' she said as she began to read what was written out loud, 'Answer the question below and pass through the doors,' she scanned down the tablet to the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' She stood there for a minute baffled by the randomness of the question, 'WHAT!?' she stammered loudly. 'What kind of question is this?'

'Troubled are we?' asked Hidoragon calmly.

'Well obviously I am. This question is just… I mean… WHAT!?'

'You need to calm down and think carefully first.'

'Easy for you to say, you're not the one answering the question.'

'It is easy for me to say, not because I'm not the one who's supposed to answer the question. But because I know the answer.'

'Oh? Is that so? Go on then, what's the answer.'

'Sorry, but I ain't gonna tell you. I can't babysit you through everything. However I will give you a clue.' Haruka didn't say anything, so Hidoragon continued, 'Basically, are you dead or alive?'

'That exactly my point I'm dead,' argued Haruka, 'so how am I suppose to know what the meaning to life is when I'm dead?' Suddenly there was a click behind them and the door swung open. 'Oh? Was that the answer?'

'Precisely, you don't know because you're not alive.'

'I see,' agreed Haruka thoughtfully.

She turned around and advanced through the door. She had stepped into another dome shaped room with the same square altar as above that probably dropped down to here. Her sword was floating upright on top of the altar gleaming magnificently. The room was built using a regular pattern of stone and a torch was seen at regular intervals along the wall.

'There you are, you're looking pretty aren't ya,' said Haruka happily to Hidoragon, but there was no reply and she could no longer sense her presence. She must've been absorbed back into the sword when they entered the room.

Haruka shrugged, 'ah well at least you're gonna be back where you belong now.' She walked across the room to retrieve her sword. She got half way and stepped onto a square shaped carving of a winged hollow in the centre of the floor, as soon as it was stepped on that part of the floor started shining brightly. She jumped backwards out of the light and was just able to witness the altar retreat back into the wall and disappearing once more. The doors shut loudly behind her.

'Aww damn, I've had just about enough of these riddles. It better not be another one,' she said frustratedly.

The square centre of the room slid away splitting into four revealing a deep dark hole beneath it. The room shook a little and a loud shrieking noise came from deep down in the dark hole. The shriek became louder and Haruka soon recognized it as a hollow shriek. Suddenly there was a loud wing beat and a winged hollow exactly the same as the one that was carved into the ground flew out of the hole and landed in front of the hole. This hollow had its hole in its stomach, it was mainly blue coloured apart from its green fur on its head and dark purple eyes. It had a rather bumpy body, with thin legs and arms, to great wings spread out from its back. It had a hideous and deformed face with its tongue stuck out drooling onto the ground.

Suddenly a warm female voice filled Haruka's head, but it wasn't Hidoragon this time, 'if you are truly Haruka, owner of Hidoragon then this will be your last test before you can obtain the eye of divinity. Defeat this hollow only using kido spells. If you do not succeed then you and Hidoragon will both perish.' The voice disappeared.

'So all I gotta do is beat this hollow with kido? Easy, I'm a master at kido,' thought Haruka relieved that it wasn't another riddle.

'Let's end this quick,' said Haruka full of confidence, she raised a finger and pointed it at the hollow, 'Hado thirty one, red flame cannon,' she said and a red ball of spiritual energy smashed into the hollow causing a small explosion. 'Done.'

The hollow shrieked once again and flew out from the dust cloud above her. It lingered a second then blasted a fireball at her.

'Guess I spoke too soon.' She flash stepped out of the wall to the other end of the room. She took aim at the hollow once more with her finger, 'hado thirty three, pale fire crash,' this time a blue ball of energy shot out at the hollow, but it didn't make contact. The hollow flew upwards and dodged the attack and descended quickly at Haruka. She jumped up kicked the hollow in the head and held out a hand at the hollow, 'hado fifty four, abolishing flames.' The circular room lit up ever more brightly as a blast of purple spiritual energy burst out from Haruka's hand. The area of impact was just too big and the hollow had no chance to escape and was engulfed by the purple flames of energy. But for some reason it had no effect and the hollow carried on its flight. It opened its mouth wide, energy gathered from everywhere in front of it and it shot a cero blast at Haruka.

'Shit,' she cursed as the cero hit her smashing her into the wall behind and then she dropped down barely able to land on her feet. The hollow didn't waste any time and was already on the assault again. It dive-bombed at Haruka and slashed her shoulder with its claws before she knew what had happened.

'Bitch,' she cursed grabbing her shoulder in pain. Droplets of blood trickled down onto the floor forming small puddles. The hollow made a u-turn and dived once more, but this time Haruka was ready, she let go of her shoulder and ignored the pain. Just as the hollow was about to reach her, she jumped up out of the way, 'hado four, pale lightning,' a blue stream of light shot and crashed into the hollow. The hollow stopped moving for a second when it was hit, Haruka landed perfectly behind it a few metres away. It turned around and charged at Haruka.

'Got you,' she raised both hands at the hollow, 'bakudo four, crawling rope,' the hollow was forced to stop as its arms and legs both got tangled up in some rope made from spiritual energy. 'Bakudo sixty one, six bars of light,' the light bars encircled around the hollow then slammed into its centre so that it was unable to move.

She grabbed her right arm with her left hand and pointed her palm at the hollow spreading out her fingers as widely as she could. Her huge amount of spiritual energy appeared in a large aura around her, 'Flight of a dragon, wing beat of a phoenix. Demon of the east, eagle of the west. Blade of thunder, spear of the leviathan. Cry of the heavens, shriek of hell. A power locked forever, a strength never to be revealed. All things flesh and blood meld into one. All wind and earth strike as one. The king of eusontias screams, the gob of this world attacks. All power virtue lost, all kindness vanishes. Zeal of dragon, eternity of dark waves. Weaklings that stand before me, feel the wrath of a new diety. Desolate all, hado ninty eight, Draco Lance.'

A huge amount of energy erupted from Haruka's hand, the force of the blast even knocked Haruka back a few steps. It was a very high density spiritual energy beam, the power was immense. The massive beam of energy overwhelmed the hollow and blasted right past it as if nothing was there. The ground below where the beam had passed was ripped apart and the wall behind the hollow had a massive dent in it like a crater from a meteorite. The hollow disintegrated into the air and all became unnervingly quiet.

'Well done, only that unique kido of yours could have beaten that hollow, I had to make sure,' said that voice that just suddenly appeared again.

'That wasn't unique. Anyone could have learnt that.'

'No, trust me, only you can learn that specific spell, only you have the correct spiritual energy identity to learn it. Trust me, now please walk forwards.'

Haruka hesitated but did as she was told, there was a small rumbling noise and the altar reappeared with her sword still hovering above it. She walked up, grabbed it and tucked it into her waist band. The hollow hand with the eye had also reappeared.

'Take it, you've earned it,' encouraged the voice. Haruka hesitated again but slowly and cautiously took the eye off the hand. She waited until the eye glowed brightly and floated in front of her.

'Congratulations,' said a voice from the eye as it floated towards her, 'To obtain the last eye go to China, a small village called She Xian.'

'Hey wait, She Xian? Where's that?'

'The eye faded into her necklace, 'you'll know,' it whispered before it disappeared.

'Whatever,' she said without showing care. She walked away. The door was unlocked and the stone gate of the first room disappeared. She met up with Toshiro and Rangiku. They explained what happened with the others, and the three of them left for China

**Next wednesday i'll have just returned from London for my vacation!! so i dunno, i might have the chp done if i write quickly and finish before i leave, but we'll see, if i do have the chp then it'll be posted late at night again, sorry for being late this week, virus attack my pc so i had to take care of it, anyway hope u liked the chp**


	30. Chapter 28

Chapter 28 – A familiar face (now we follow ketu's first eye)

**Chapter ****28 – A familiar face (****now we follow ketu's first eye****)**

**Note:** I'll use Iba because Tetsuzaemon is way too much to type just for a name.

'Ah Venice, what a nostalgic sight,' expressed Ketu as his group looked down at Venice from the sky where they just came out of a gate from soul society.

'Have you been here before captain,' asked Iba.

'I have indeed, it was when me and Terri were together. During that time we were both training for our bankai, but she wanted to take a break, so we got some gigais and spent some relaxing time here. Aw, I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still recall sitting on one of those boats with her leaning on my shoulders, it was fantastic,' Ketu just seemed to have spaced out.

'Hey ladies, we didn't come here to chat, we have work to be done,' said Raven bluntly to Ketu and Iba as he descended with Izuru behind.

'Let's go,' agreed Byakuya, as Renji followed him, descending.

'He didn't have to be so mean,' grinned Ketu, the insult didn't do anything to topple his spirit.

It was mid-afternoon and they landed in a crowed area. The area was oddly square shaped surrounded by tall buildings and a clock tower on one side.

'This is St Mark's Square, me and Terri walked through here quite a few times. It was always sunny when we did, sunny and beautiful,' exclaimed Ketu

'Ok, we've heard enough. We're here to help you get that eye thing, do you know where it is?' asked Raven with a straight forward tone.

'Hmm…. Actually I do have a hunch. My senses have been bothering me ever since I heard that the eye was in Venice, I had an immediate vision of where it is and it was a vision of a clock tower, so it can be either in this square or in another place. I can't feel anything here, so we should head off to the other place,' stated Ketu.

'Well then let's not waste any time, lead the way,' said Byakuya walking towards him and stopped before him.

'Alright follow me,' ordered Ketu.

They exited St Mark's Square by jumping onto the buildings and jumping away. Ketu jumped onto the first canal he saw and ran on it. The series of canals was like a maze, with other canals leading to it left and right. But Ketu looked as if he knew where he was going. They ran across many channels of canals and didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon. Many boats were present on the canals, they jumped over them so they didn't crash.

'Sorry to interrupt captain, but just where exactly are we going?' asked Iba whilst they were still running.

'It's called The Doge's Palace, it's a museum. Me and Terri used to go to it everyday because it was rather empty on the days we were here,' said Ketu still looking forwards and keeping his eyes on the 'road'. 'Don't worry, we'll be there soon.' Iba nodded and carried on running.

About ten minutes later they stepped into a vast area of water with no barriers surrounding it. A huge building was on one side of it. It was two storeys high, the first floor's exterior was covered with stone arches. The second floor's exterior had six arch shaped windows.

The six of them approached the building's entrance but before they got there, they were interrupted by an evil voice from behind them.

'Hello soul reapers,' said a female voice with an evil undertone.

The six of them turned around and saw a female arrancar, she had long blond hair and her hollow mask is shaped like a tiara on top of her head. She has blue eyes and is of medium height. (I'm sure all of you remember who this is)

'An arrancar, here?' said Byakuya in a surprisingly calm tone.

'You not happy to see me?' asked the arrancar politely as she drew her sword.

'If you impede on our mission I'll have no choice but to cut you down,' said Raven stepping in her way.

The arrancar gave an evil grin. She vanished and a second alter Izuru's chest was slashed across, blood squirted out and he passed out. The arrancar was standing by him. Raven looked at Izuru on the floor with the least bit of care.

'Wasn't he an underling of yours?' she asked sadistically.

'I couldn't care less,' said Raven coolly. Ketu glared at him. 'Move it, I'll take care of her,' Raven said waving the others to move on without him.

'Tetsuzaemon, get Izuru back to sou society,' commanded Ketu.

'But captain,' Iba started, but Ketu put a hand out and hushed him.

'That is an order,' Ketu said forcefully.

'Yes captain.' Iba hoisted Izuru on to his shoulders, opened a gate to soul society and ran off. The arrancar tried to go after them but Raven moved to block her way.

'Alright, we're leaving her to you then,' said Ketu then he signaled to the others, 'let's go.'

'Consider my debt repaid, Ketu' said Raven under his breath. He turned to face the arrancar. The streets around them were quiet, it was mid-day and no one was out.

'Why don't we go somewhere a little more spacious?' asked the arrancar still smiling evilly.

'After you,' said Raven. The arrancar flew across the huge open waters to the centre and waited. Raven did the same and they met eye to eye in the middle.

'So, gonna introduce yourself? I don't think I've seen you around before,' said the arrancar speaking in a very carefree way.

'Wouldn't it be polite to introduce yourself first?' asked Raven.

'Oh? Alright, I don't see why not. I am Circe Marreina, fourth of the Wu Jian,' she announced proudly.

'I see, is that a new version of the previous espada or something?'

'Your quite clever, it is indeed, though in the Wu Jian, there are only five arrancars. Usaitar formed us and he picked the best five arrancars to lead his hollows. I am the fourth strongest out of the five.'

'So not very strong then.'

'Just because I'm fourth doesn't mean I'm not strong. I'm only weaker than three arrancars in the entire Hueco Mundo, none other. So tell me then, what's your name?'

'I am Raven Ruhodesu, captain of squad three of the thirteen divisions.'

'I knew you were a captain with that haori you're wearing. But are you a strong captain?' Circe drew her sword and readied for battle.

'We will find out won't we?' said Raven calmly as he drew his sword.

A gentle breeze blew across them and the waters below rippled with excitement. The two stared at each other waiting until someone makes a move. A second later both had vanished and reappeared in the middle in a deadlock of swords. Circe incredibly had more strength and pushed Raven away, she chased after him and slashed again. Raven moved to his left, parried the attack, twisted in mid-air and launch a more powerful strike. Circe jumped upwards and avoided the attack, she launched herself downwards and forced Raven to block an attack from above. The force was strong enough to push Raven down a few inches. He flash steps away from the situation to next to Circe and slashes down at her. Her reflexes were surprisngly quick and she blocked instantly.

'Well, well. I haven't had this much fun in a while,' said Raven grinning.

'Having fun? That's nice and all, but can you at least put a little more effort in, I'm getting bored.' Circe quickly pushed Raven back again, pointed her hand at Raven and shot a cero shot before he recovered his balance.

Raven spun around and was able to avoid most of the blast but was badly hit on his left shoulder. Blood flowed out of a wide gash in this shoulder as he grabbed it in pain.

'You can't fight me with an unreleased zanpakuto, either release it or DIE,' she shouted as she shot another cero at him. The attack hit with an explosion raising water droplets into the air forming a large cloud around Raven. She couldn't make out where or how he was, so she assumed that he got hit and was pretty injured.

She turned and was about to leave when a black curved kido attack came out of the fog, flying at high speed towards her. She did a back flip and avoided the kido blade which flew past below her whipping up a small wave on the waters.

'So, released your sword after all then?' said Circe in a you-should-have-done-ages-ago sort of tone.

Raven jumped out of the fog and slashed at Circe with his scythe. She smirked and blocked the attack.

'Well, it's not like I have much time to waste here, so I thought I'd speed this fight up a bit,' said Raven coolly.

'Whatever you say kiddo.'

Both jumped back and charged forwards again clashing with a slash, the impact exploded and the water beneath them shot up around them. They flew up and back off each other before slashing again.

'This is getting boring,' said Circe as she blocked another attack.

'Fine, then let's make this a bit more interesting,' said Raven. He immediately parried a stab from Circe and flipped backwards to gain some distance from her.

'Oh? What's this?' she asked still smirking. She didn't waste time to find out thought, she was on the offense already and charged at Raven.

Raven stayed calm and chanted as he held out his hand in front of him, 'Clinging to your every breath. Demons rise from below. Black smoke and toxic fumes. The sun is covered by a black cloud. Night falls, as will all who rest below the purity_. _ Hado number 78, Creeping Plague.'

A black cloud surrounded Circe as she stopped the charge. The cloud grew bigger and Circe could feel the poison from it. She quickly escaped by flying upwards. Unluckily for her Raven was waiting. She couldn't see it coming and was slashed across the waist with tremendous force from Raven's scythe. She was shot down head first into the water. The water splashed upwards when she crashed into it. Raven dived down after her, but stopped suddenly when he realized it was a trap. But it was too late, Circe had appeared behind him and rammed a cero blast into his back. Blood scattered from his mouth into the water mixing in with the blueness turning it a light red colour. Raven stood there panting expecting for Circe to deliver the final blow, but it never came. He slowly turned his head around and saw that Circe too, was on one knee panting heavily.

'Well, well, who'd knew you had something like that up your sleeves,' said Circe standing up gently.

'Hmph, who'd knew you could stand a hit from my scythe and still attack after it,' smiled Raven.

'Guess we're both full of surprises. But I know we both have at least one more surprise to show, isn't that right?' She had stopped panting and was holding her sword pointed at Raven.

'Indeed, you're right,' he said still smiling. A dark purple coloured spiritual energy surrounded Raven.

Circe held her sword above her head, 'Let's see how you handle this.'

But before she was able to so anything a hand appeared from no where and grabbed her head, stopping her.

'Enough Circe, we need to be going,' said a male arrancar who just appeared. 'Our Lord Usaitar has discovered the temple and he needs all of his Wu Jian to be there.'

'But Plata, I was just about to have some fun,' moaned Circe. 'Me and Raven here was just about to go all out.'

The arrancar whose name was Plata twitched when he heard the name raven. The turned and his eyes met Raven's glare. Raven suddenly felt scared for some reason, a specific scared feeling that he hasn't felt for a long time.

Plata gave a curt laugh, 'you're Raven?' he laughed again. For some reason this laughter was so familiar and unnerving that Raven was rooted to the spot unable to move.

'Sorry Circe, but orders are orders, we need to go.' He turned away and opened up a gate to Hueco Mundo. Circe looked very unhappy but she obediently went in. Plata turned back one last time, 'we'll definitely be seeing each other very soon,' he reassured smiling evilly.

They left, the gate closed and Raven was standing there drenched in blood. He tried to walk, but stumbled a bit. Raven was only still standing because of the tension that fight gave, but now that they've left and all the tension disappeared he couldn't keep his leg straight any longer and he wasn't able to stay conscious for much longer. He fell, slowly and heavily into the water and sank sluggishly, and there was Byakuya's voice inside his head from when they first faced each other in a proper contest of strength, 'you're slow, even when you're falling.' Those we're Byakuya's final words when he lost that match.

Raven was barely able to keep his eyes open as he slowly slipped away from consciousness. But before he completely lost consciousness he heard his sister's voice calling, 'Raven, Raven, stay with us, don't leave me...' He blacked out.

**Looks like I made it back in time. London was fantastic, had a great time, if you're ever there do try out the london eye, I loved the view. Anyway, this was a short chapter because I wrote it on my 4 hour journey home, and trust me in side a car on the motorway isn't the best place to be writing, but it's all good and I'm back, so enjoy and expect the next chp for next wednesday**


	31. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29 – A New Ally**

'Oh dear, I think we've gone the wrong way,' said Ketu suddenly stopping before he entered a room in the Doge's Palace. They had only just entered the building and gone through one room.

'We've only just got here and you say we're in the wrong place? You are really useless aren't you?' said Byakuya though he didn't have an insulting tone.

'Well… I only just started to have a bad feeling about this.'

Renji stared at Ketu with annoyance before his mobile started ringing, 'hang on a moment.' He picked it up and answered, the call was short and all he said was, 'we'll be on our way.'

'So, what was that about?' asked Byakuya.

'Captain, a huge hollow of some sort has appeared in that place we were at before,' replied Renji.

'St. Mark's square?' asked Ketu urgently.

'Yes, soul society wasn't able to send any reinforcements to tackle the hollow because either they in Hueco Mundo, or they're guarding soul society. Basically, we're the only ones who can make it there fast enough.'

'Let's move it,' said Byakuya without hesitation and flash stepped away.

'Captian.' Renji followed.

'Geez, a hollow, now? Tch, annoying,' groaned Ketu as he went after them.

A few minutes later they have arrived back at St. Mark's Square on top of the clock tower to a horrific scene, there were dead bodies scattered across the floor, it was literally a sea of blood. Decapitated bodies lay motionless on the ground with blood still pouring from their necks. A few heads here a few heads there all with the same frightened and surprised expression. Limbs and other body parts were still being flung all over the place. People were screaming and running blindly everywhere with no clue as to who is killing them.

'Agh, that's just sick, good thing Terri isn't here,' thought Ketu.

The hollow was slap bang in the middle of the square. It wasn't any ordinary hollow either. Firstly it was HUGE, it was just short of the clock tower that stood behind it. The hollow looked basically like a venus fly trap, except it had millions of sharp, thorned vines flying about smashing people from their limbs.

'Gah, I can't take much more of this,' said Renji and he charged in without thinking.

'You idiot,' said Byakuya under his breath, but he made no attempt to help him.

Renji looked like he was about to release his sword but before he could react a sharp vine that came from behind him had pierced through his back. The hollow had already knew about his arrival.

Ketu's eye widened with shock while Byakuya stood there and just stared.

'He's your subordinate isn't he? Aren't you going to help him?' shouted Ketu urgently at Byakuya.

Byakuya stayed calm, 'in my division, if you lose one on one then you deserve to die. I thought you already knew that, Captain Zakura.'

Ketu looked annoyed and angry, 'fine, do as you wish, I'll get him myself then.'

He flash stepped next to an unconscious Renji, and grabbed him. A vine flew out of no where from behind him, but his reflexes were way too quick for something like this and he easily managed to avoid it. A second later he was on the roof of the clock tower next to Byakuya again.

He put Renji down, 'we'll have to take him back to squad four immediately after this fight.'

'Fine, I'll do it, only because there's no one else here.,' said Byakuya thought he sounded as if he doesn't care.

While they were talking they didn't notice as the hollow had turned around to face them and send five large thorns their way.

'Look out,' shouted Ketu as he drew his sword, but Byakuya was already prepared and his sword was in front of him in his hand.

'Scatter, Senbonzakura,' he said calmly. His sword broke apart into little small pink blades and zoomed towards the incoming thorns shredding them to pieces within seconds.

'So. Every man for himself?' asked Ketu, but Byakuya didn't say anything, 'I'll take that as a yes then.' He was off, and already he was above the hollow. He threw his sword up into the air, 'Fly, Kazedoragon.' The sword vanished, but in its face now stands a dragon consisting of a hundred percent wind.

The hollow didn't waste another second and sent a shooting vine at him. Ketu waved his arm downwards and the dragon dived down at the vine. The vine was coming at too fast of a speed and had plowed through the wind dragon. Ketu was too astonished to move, the vine was still going up, and was just about to hit him when it stopped suddenly and dropped back down. Ketu looked down at what had happened. It was Byakuya, his bankai was out and he had just crashed his blades into the hollow forcing it back a few metres.

'Ha, not bad I guess,' thought Ketu though he wasn't praising him.

The hollow was already back on its 'feet' and had blasted hundreds of thorns at Ketu and Byakuya's direction.

'Bugger this, Bankai.' The dragon above him grew to an enormous size and quickly flew in front of him acting as a shield blocking the thorns. 'Kazetatsujin.'

Below him, Byakuya charged, with his bankai in front of him blocking the thorns. He jumped as he near the hollow, raised his hand, and without saying anything shot a hadou four at the hollow. His sword pieces all followed and bashed into the hollow's face pushing it back more and more.

'Wave of destruction number one, white thunder,' shouted Ketu as he too joined in the attack and blasted a stream of lightning into the hollow. The huge hollow toppled backwards and caused a mini earthquake.

When the attacks ceased and the dust cleared the hollow became visible again, its face was sliced up pretty badly with blood dripping everywhere. It wasn't moving and looked like it was dead.

Byakuya obviously wasn't going to take any chances, he walked up the the hollow. He waved his hand out, 'senkei,' he said and at once the little pieces of blades formed together around him into sword and surrounded him and the hollow. 'Die, you vile hollow,' he shouted, but just as he was about to command all the blades to attack the hollow his entire body was suddenly wrapped by one of the hollows' vine. The hollow 'got up' and 'smiled'!

'Watch out,' shouted Ketu warningly as he began his descent to help Byakuya. But too late, a second later sharp thorns had poked out of the vine that had grabbed Byakuya and pierced him in many places. A pool of blood already formed below his feet. The vine then grabbed onto one of Byakuya's hands and threw him at Ketu. Ketu didn't dodge but timed a perfect catch. Byakuya was unconscious and his clothes were completely drenched with blood with hundreds of holes.

'Shit,' cursed Ketu. Byakuya's breathing was faint but he was still alive, for the moment. Ketu laid down Byakuya next to Renji on the same clock tower. 'don't worry, I'll finish this up and be right back to get both of you to squad four, hand in there.' He flash steps back to face the hollow. 'Alright you hollow, I didn't want to have to do this, but it looks like I've got no choice. Wind Screen.' He moved his right hand upwards and you could feel the wind whooshing towards him and surrounded him with a powerful barrier of wind.

The hollow raised its head upwards at Ketu and shot all its vines at him. Ketu charged also raising a hand in front of him. He weaved in and out of the vines dodging every one of them and at the same time rapid firing hado fours at the hollow each striking it in its face. The hollow backed off as Ketu got closer, it pulled back half its vines and stabbed them into the ground and immediately a wall of rock rose up from the ground and blocked Ketu's way. Two vines was able to hit him just as he stopped before he hit the wall, but the Wind Screen held strong and the vines were unable to hit him.

'Wave of destruction number one, white thunder,' he shouted hitting the wall with streams of thunder, but that had no effect and the wall still stands strong. 'Damn.' Unfortunately the hollow had attacked again and Ketu was forced backwards. The wall was high enough to touch the skies so he had no hope of flying over it, but it was very long, so there was a chance for him to go around it.

'Gotta, think this through,' he thought to himself, but before he could think about anything, the hollow took the preemptive and attacked him first. He jumped out of the way then suddenly an idea came into his head, it wasn't a hard one, but it was an effective one.

He raised both hands and directed a barrage of non-verbal hado thirty ones 'red flame cannon' at the wall. Thought they were weak they were able to raise a large dust cloud and distract the hollow long enough for it not to have noticed that Ketu was trying to go around the wall. Ketu saw the hollow, it was still looking the other way. He moved as quickly as possible and attacked. When the hollow realized what had happened it was too late. 'Kazeken,' said Ketu as he arrived before the hollow. His wind dragon dove at lightning speed towards the hollow forming a sharp wind blade, and crashed straight through the hollow coming out the other side completely piercing threw the hollow. A terrifying scream from the hollow and it burst into pieces disintegrating away into nothing. The stone wall also fell back into the ground.

What was left, was a large stone block in the middle of where the hollow disappeared with the eye of benevolence safely hovering above it.

'Well, at least the eye is easy to get,' thought Ketu as he cautiously stepped up beside the stone block. He reached out his hand and tried to grab the eye but was suddenly blasted back by an invisible force, he did a back flip in mid air and landed on his feet.

'What the? A force field.' Idiotically he tried again, but resulted in the same outcome. 'Damn, I can see it but I can't get it. Guess I'll have a look at how Byakuya and Renji are doing,' he thought as he flash stepped back to the tower block. Renji looked better, sleeping, but Byakuya's breathing was still very faint and it looked as if something was done quickly then he was about to die (Oh no I'm so worried… _sarcasm…_). 'I'll go back for the eye later then, I'm sure if I can't touch it no one else can.' He was about to grab Renji when a person appeared behind him, Isane.

'Don't worry captain Zakura, I'll take captain Kuchiki and vice-captain Abarai to squad four for you. And don't worry about the mess down there, I will send out some squad four members to clear this up,' requested Isane politely.

'Oh? That's handy, but how did you know that they were injured?' asked Ketu curiously.

'Vice-captain Iba suggested I come down here incase you need medical help.'

'Good old Tetsuzaemon, alright, take these two to safety then please, I'll continue to look for the eyes myself,' said Ketu.

'Ok, but if you need some reinforcements from soul society just give us a phone call,' said Isane as she picked up Byakuya and Renji.

'Will do,' said Ketu giving a thumbs up. Isane departs.

Ketu, as soon as he sees Isane leave, went back to the stone block. This time he tried to get it with his sword but was blown off his feet again. He stood there and stared at the eye for ages without noticing that a bunch of squad four soul reapers have started cleaning up the bodies, healing anyone that could still live, etc.

Ketu sat down on the ground deep in thought, the squad four members were busily running quietly past him, not daring to disturb his thinking. When he suddenly got up, a few of the squad four member actually stopped thinking they disturbed him, but when Ketu just started walking round the stone block in circles, the squad four people quietly walked away.

Ketu circled the stone block for ages studying it closely, but he found nothing.

Until a familiar voice pops in to say 'hi, how are you Captain Zakura,' asked a cheerful Hanataro. The other squad four members stared with disbelief that he dared talk to someone like Ketu so they just slowly edged away.

'Oh hi Hanatarou, having fun here?' said Ketu thought he didn't even look at him.

'Not really, I hate being in command, it's intimidating at times when so many people surround you asking what to do next.'

'I know what you mean, after all I do command squad seven. So then this is the fourteenth advanced relief unit?' asked Ketu finally looking around him.

'Yep, it is the unit I command, thought I wish I wasn't,' said Hanataro just as one of the squad four people came running over to report.

'Reporting in sir. The dead human bodies have all been cleared away and taken care off, what shall we do with the injured humans?'

Hanataro stood there looking a bit scared, 'well… er… heal up the injured, then er… erase their memories ad leave them somewhere same. Yeah, do that.'

'Yes sir,' bowed the soul reaper. He then turned to Ketu, 'good afternoon captain Zakura sir,' and then he left. Ketu just stood there with an expression on his face that was saying, what the hell.

'See what I mean, I'm no good at this, I'm always too slow,' said Hanataro sounding a bit down.

'I think you did a fine job, you make a great leading,' encouraged Ketu, and Hanataro seems to liven up a bit, 'by the way, why did Isane send you? Any particular reason?'

'There was actually two. One, because I was the only idle relief unit. And two because I know you.'

Ketu nodded, 'that would make sense.' He bent down and carefully surveyed on side of the stone block looking for anything of interest.

'So, what exactly are you doing?' asked Hanataro looking interested.

Ketu stood back up, 'trying to find out how to get that eye,' he said pointing at the floating eye.

'Well have you tried looking at that side of this stone block?' asked Hanatarou pointing to the left side of the one Ketu was currently looking at.

'Oh?' Ketu walked round and amazingly there were some inscriptions written at the very bottom of the side of the stone block. 'Wow, how come I didn't notice this?'

'Dunno, but I only noticed it just then,' said Hanataro as he bent down next to Ketu. 'It appears to be some sort of ancient language (same language as Haruka's riddles). Damn, we need someone like captain Ukitake here.'

'No wait, I can read it,' exclaimed Ketu touching the carved inscriptions.

'Really, wow. You're amazing. So what's it say?'

'If you want to get the eye, then all you need is not to touch it, but able to get it as well.' Ketu looked completely bewildered, same with Hanataro.

'What? Does tha-' started Hanataro, but Ketu cut him short.

'Wait, let me think about this.' He stood there for over five minutes until something finally came into his mind. 'I know, I think what it's saying is that I need to get the eye next to me without touching it.'

'I guess that makes sense, but how are you suppose to do that?'

'That's what we need to find out,' said Ketu thoughtfully. He walked around the stone block carefully thinking about it. He stopped ten minutes later and still wasn't able to think of anything.

'Hey, why don't we just grab it anyway?' asked Hanataro.

'Be my guest,' said Ketu without paying attention to what he was saying, and a second later he witnessed a comical Hanataro flying backwards through the air. He couldn't help himself as he laughed himself hoarse.

'That wasn't nice Captain Zakura, you could've told me it had a force field around it.'

'Sorry, I was just lost in thought and didn't hear you, my dead,' laughed Ketu.

'Hmm…' Hanataro stood close by the stone block in a thinking pose. 'How about we blow it?' joked Hanataro.

'Hey wait, that's it!' exclaimed Ketu as he ran joyessly away from the stone block putting some distance between them.

'Hey, er, what exactly are you doing?' asked Hanataro nervously.

Ketu pulled out his sword, 'I suggest you move.' As soon as Ketu pulled out his sword Hanataro gave a little screamed and jumped out of the way. 'Fly, Kazedoragon.' Once again the wind dragon appeared above his head. He waved his hand in front of him very slowly and delicately. The dragon gingerly approached the stone block, carefully swooped up the eye and flew back to Ketu.

Hanataro clapped, 'nicely done Captain Zakura.'

'Thx, and you can stop calling me Captain Zakura, we've been friends before, just Ket will do,' said Ketu cheerfully.

All of a sudden the eye started glowing brightly with the same colour as his spiritual pressure and it emitted a low male voice, 'congratulations on obtaining the eye of benevolence, do not waste time, the darkness is approaching. The next eye is on an consealed island in the middle of the ring of fire, benevolence will be the key and the eye will reveal itself to you.' The eye vanished into his necklace and said no more.

Ketu made a thoughtful face, 'interesting, very interesting.'

'Oh, so you know where it spoke off then? You know where you can get your second eye?'

Ketu shrugged, 'not a clue.' Hanataro made a funny face.

Just then someone appeared behind him. 'I can help you Captain Zakura,' said the calming voice of Retsu Unohana.

'Oh hi, didn't notice you were here. What do you mean you can help me?' asked Ketu surprised but happy to see another ally.

'Basically I know where the ring of fire is, and I know where it spoke off. But firstly, may I make a request?'

'Go ahead.'

'Will you allow Hanataro to go with you? I know his swordsmanship skills aren't great, but I also know that he used to be a good friend of yours and I'm sure his healing abilities will come in handy.'

Ketu looked around at Hanataro with a smiling face, 'of course Hanataro can come along, it's been a while since we've seen each other, this gives us a chance to catch up on lost time.'

'Wonderful, then instead of me telling you where the island is I'll give the map to Hanataro and he can lead you there. Your sense of direction has never been your strong point, and Hanataro here is surprisingly good at map reading, so he'll guide you,' said Retsu handing Hanataro a large sheet of paper which Hanataro had a glimpse at before folding it up and pocketing it.

'Sounds good to me,' he turned to Hanataro, 'shall we go then? Oh wait, you can't flash step can you? Well at least that how I remember you being anyway.'

'Don't worry, in the past few decades I have finally mastered the flash step,' said Hanataro proudly.

'Wonderful, then let's go, the eye told me not to waste any more time.' He turned around, 'thanks for the help Captain Unohana, much appreciated,' and at that he flash stepped off.

'Hey wait for me,' shouted Hanataro, he went to Retsu and bowed, 'thanks for your help Captain.'

'It was my pleasure, just don't cause Captain Zakura any trouble. I think you better go now he's probably miles ahead by now, he's not a captain for nothing.'

Hanataro stood up straight, 'thanks again.' And he flash stepped after Ketu as quickly as he could.

**Note: Hanataro and Ketu had a small friendly relationship back in the day, but I won't go into it any further.**

**Next chp next week, A-level results tomorrow, i'm so nervous, all you who do english A-levels will know what i'm talking about, hope i did well, wish me luck**


	32. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30 – Into the Skies (****I'll do the last eyes in a random order, but Ratiasu's will be the last one chronologically i.e. the other two will have got their last eyes before she gets hers****)**

It was night time, all was quiet except for a few chirping crickets, but the silence was soon about to be disturbed by three soul reapers hastily trying to find a small village called She Xian.

Hitsugaya, followed by Haruka and Rangiku jumped out from the forest and carried on running.

'Captain, are you sure it's this way?' asked Rangiku sounding uncertain.

'Well this is the way that man from earlier said and also Haruka can sense it's this way, right?' he said turning to Haruka who nodded but didn't say anything.

They ran throughout the night, crossing fields and farmland with no one in sight which was obviously helpful; incase they bumped into someone. Morning was soon upon them so they decided to take a break and look around in a small town called Ji Zi Li. It was a rather poor residential area, the roads were uneven and rocky. The houses were poorly built from rock by the people who live there. The streets were disease ridden and trash was scattered everywhere. The people look malnourished but happy, living normal lives. Hitsugaya used his gigai and bought some food from the local 'convenience store' and brought it back to the two girls.

'Thanks Captain,' said Matsumoto gratefully as she took the food.

'Yeah thanks Toshiro,' said a smiling Haruka.

'Grr… it's Captain Hitsugaya to you, I may be helping you on this mission but at least show some respect,' growled Toshiro. Haruka didn't answer she just sat there and smiled at him. Toshiro let out a sigh, sat down and ate with them.

It was just passed noon before they started moving again after getting more supplies from the village shop. It was a hot day with virtually no clouds in the sky. The air was moist and hard to move in, but that doesn't seem to disturb the three soul reapers as they speedily ran through the green countryside. They ran parallel to a railway that was headed into a mountain tunnel but jumped on top of the mountain instead of going through the tunnel. It was a magnificent scenery, the luscious forests and hills, the beautiful grass fields, not a bit of pollution in the air. It was peaceful and quiet, a great calming feeling. The gentle breeze gave the scenery a bit more added touch. The flowers bloomed at the sight of the sun, the trees happily waving around in the breeze. But Haruka didn't have time to waste enjoying the scenery so she kept on moving without looking twice and without second thoughts.

Ah hour passed, but who knows how long it has been, especially in this humid hot weather, it could've been hours for all they know. They had arrived at their destination and now they stand before a large Chinese style arch with two massive Chinese words on the top saying 'She Xian.'

'Well, well looks like you are good for something after all,' said Haruka.

'Tch, no respect. After all, I did say I was going to get us here,' said Hitsugaya.

'Yeah you did, and I never doubted you for a second Captain, good job,' congratulated Rangiku joyfully.

'Spread out and look around the town, if you see anything suspicious just report it when we're all back here. Return here in three hours, let's go,' commanded Hitsugaya and at once the three of them flash stepped in various directions.

Hitsugaya looked around the streets and the shops in the middle of town which was rather difficult being the middle of the day and everyone was out and about. The tremendous amount of dust in the air was incredible and made everything a bit harder to see, but for some reason no one seemed bothered about it, they're probably used to it. But after three hours of roaming the roads and shops and even witnessing a lunchtime Tai Chi session at some park in the town, he found nothing of interest. So he just went back hoping someone else found something.

Rangiku went to the lake that was nearby and instead of looking, sat down by the lake and fell asleep. She woke up two hours later and only just realized what she was suppose to be doing so for the next hour she, surprisingly, made an effort to looking for the eye searching the wide lake. But, still she couldn't find anything, she also went back to the meeting point empty handed.

Haruka explored the residential areas of the town, which was nearly empty except for a few elderly people. Now you'd think that Haruka should be able to find something seeing as she can sense it when the eye is nearby. But alas, she too wandered around house and house finding nothing. So in the end she went back to their meeting place when the three hours were up.

'Anyone found anything?' asked Hitsugaya as soon as everyone had returned. Rangiku and Haruka both shook their heads. 'Damn, looks like we'll be here for a while.' Hitsugaya sighed and looked around them, surprisingly there were still as many people out and about as before. 'Well, we need to find some place to rest for the night then, and it can't be anywhere here incase someone accidently bumps into us.'

'I know captain, how about that mountain over there, I'm sure it's empty,' said a cheery Gangiku pointing at a tall mountain far away on the other side of the river across a bridge.

'Oh? That sounds good. Well we've still got time let's go check it out,' agreed Hitsugaya and him and Rangiku went first in the direction of the mountain. Haruka appeared deep in thought about something but followed anyway.

A few seconds later they all had flash stepped to the foot of the mountain at the same time despite Haruka leaving a second late. To their astonishment someone was already there waiting for them.

'Hey, long time no see, Haruka,' he said with a sly voice.

Haruka instantly pulled out her sword without hesitation.

'You again, what do you want this time,' said Hitsugaya with so much force and hatred in his voice.

'Usaitar,' whispered Rangiku as she grabbed the handle of her sword but didn't pull it out just yet.

'Well now, don't we all look like a happy bunch?' sneered Usaitar, surprisingly he wasn't carrying a sword, but still wearing that same white soul reaper outfit.

'Get out of our way, we don't have time to deal with you,' warned Haruka as she stepped forwards, her sword poised.

'Like we'd accept help from you,' shouted Hitsugaya as he jumped up, 'Reign over the frosted frozen sky, Hyorinmaru.' The head of his ice dragon charged at Usaitar, but he just stood there and held up a finger. The dragon crashed into Usaitar but he took no harm as the dragon wasn't able to touch him, it was stopped by some sort of invisible shield. A second later the dragon shattered. 'Damn you,' cursed Hitsugaya.

'As you can see, I've come here unarmed. I just came to help Haruka find her last eye, that's all,' he said politely.

'And why should we trust you?' asked Haruka with an accusing tone.

'Because all I want is to face someone strong, and for that to happen I need you to get your new release. It's just that simple, and that's the only reason I want to help you.'

'Alright, let's say your intentions were to help us. But how would you know where the eye was?' asked Haruka her sword unlowered.

'Put it this way, I found it before you and I tried to get it for you, problem was only the owner of Hidoragon can get it. So I know exactly where it is, the only reason you haven't found it is because you aren't looking in the right places.'

'Can we trust him?' asked Rangiku.

'I don't know, but what choice do we have. We're up the creek without a paddle at the moment, and he seems to be telling the truth,' said Haruka still thinking.

'And another thing, I could easily have brought my sword along and killed all of you with ease but I didn't, isn't that enough?' said Usaitar calmly approaching them.

Finally Haruka made up her mind, 'fine we'll go with you, but if you make one wrong move then I'm going to have to kill you.'

Usaitar laughed, 'alright fine.' He walked off in the opposite direction allowing them to follow.

Hitsugaya put his sword away and Rangiku let go of hers and walked behind Usaitar, Haruka was the last but she didn't dare put it away. The mountain was extremely high full of bamboo instead of trees. There were barely any sign of life as they walked up. They passed several graves as they continued their hike, the high they got the more Haruka sensed the eye. It was late at night, and the air has cooled down quite considerably. As they climbed the lights of houses and buildings looked like tiny dots of yellow and the river was sparkling brightly in the moonlight.

Everyone had stayed quiet the entire hike until Rangiku tried to break it, 'quite a pretty moon out tonight, don't you think?' she asked looking around, but still everyone kept their silence, so Rangiku gave up and didn't say anything else.

They were nearing the peak of the mountain and by that time the town was almost impossible to see due to them being in the middle of a cloud.

'We're here,' said Usaitar as they had reached the very top of the mountain. As soon as Haruka stepped up a massive glow came from behind her, she immediately turned around and saw a huge glowing mansion of some sort. It looked like any other mansion; large door, three stories, very well decorated exterior and rows of windows, except it was sitting on top of the cloud.

'What the hell?' exclaimed an astonished Haruka.

'Oh? It's glowing? It didn't do that when I was here,' said Usaitar thoughtfully.

'Hey wait, you don't mean to tell me that this is-'

'Yep, this is where your final eye should be, Haruka. I mean just look at it glow for you, I'm sure it's glowing because of your presence. Shall we take a closer look then?' suggested Usaitar but at that moment his phone rang. 'Excuse me a moment,' he picked up his mobile, 'Oh? Really? You sure? Alright then, I'll be right there. Oh call Circe back first, I'll be there shortly, don't do anything until I'm there.' He put his phone back into his pocket. 'Well it seems I have an urgent matter to attend to back in Hueco Mundo, sorry but I must take my leave. Just go up to the door and it'll open for you Haruka, good luck.' Usaitar smiled, opened a gateway to Hueco Mundo and disappeared into it.

'Hey wait,' shouted Haruka, but he had already disappeared, 'darn him.'

'Come on, let's go,' said Hitsugaya, Haruka unwantingly turned around and all three of them approached the glowing mansion.

They cautiously stepped across the cloud incase it they fell through but surprisingly it was as solid as rock. So they made it to the entrance with no problems. Haruka stepped forwards, the entrance door looked like any plain door except with a bigger key hole that could fit a sword.

'That some key hole,' said Gangiku studying it closely.

'Hmm… I wonder,' thought Haruka, and she stabbed her sword into the hole turned it anti-clockwise and pulled it out. There was a small click and the double doors swung open. They walked in. The main entrance hall was lit by a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling, there was two stair cases going up on either side of the entrance hall, but they lead to no where as there were no doors upstairs. The entrance hall was the only room as they entered the mansion. There was just another set of doors in front of them in the middle of the hall. But the room, from the exterior, looked no bigger than a bathroom.

The three of them went around the hall examining the room, but found nothing. Haruka felt something coming from the middle room a presence of some sorts. So instinctively she went and opened it, it was dark as she entered the room, like an empty void. But as soon as she walked one step the door automatically shut behind her and couldn't be opened. The room's light switched on and Haruka knew that someone was behind her, she turned around and saw an amazing yet disturbing sight.

**Sorry about the lateness of submitting this chapter, i finished it yesterday and just forgot today, but at least it's up now, same day next week, bye**


	33. Chapter 31

**C****hapter 31 – There's a First Time for Everything**

What she thought of was only a small room, was actually a huge waterfall and she was standing on top of it, and the disturbing the surprising thing was, she was not alone. Another girl was exactly opposite her standing on the other edge of the waterfall, sword out as if she had been waiting for Haruka to show up all this time. Even more surprising was that the other girl was, Haruka. An exact mirror copy, wearing the same clothes, using the same sword and looked exactly identical.

'What the hell is happening here?' thought a bewildered Haruka to herself, but she was cut short as the other Haruka threw herself over the waterfall and lunged at the real Haruka. Haruka moved out of the way and expected the fake Haruka to crash into the door, but for some reason it had disappeared.

'Ah crap, I can't get out.' Once again the fake Haruka immediately attacked her before she had time to finish thinking. 'Screw this,' Haruka said angrily pulling out her sword and counter-attacking. The fake Haruka blocked with great efficiency just like how the real Haruka would block, and also attacked back exactly as the real Haruka would attack.

They fought for what seemed like hours, the stunning beauty of the scenery was barely noticed as the two fought with lightning speed everywhere around the waterfall. The waters churned violently as the two fought above it creating mini explosions and blasting the waters upwards. It was an even match for the most part, neither made a mistake, until when the real Haruka accidently slipped on a piece of rock and fell down into the forest below just missing the rocks in the huge pond to where the waterfall is headed. Haruka was able to flip up and land on her feet without too much effort, and without hesitation she jumped backwards because she knew that if the fake Haruka was like her then it'd attack her straight down, and sure enough she moved just in time to dodge a downwards strike from the fake Haruka.

Meanwhile in the mansion Rangiku and Toshiro both noticed that Haruka had gone through the door and disappeared but they couldn't do anything, because the door had disappeared and it was just plain concrete where the door used to be. They had tried breaking through the concrete but all their attacks did nothing because the concrete was resistant to spiritual energy.

'Damn, what are we suppose to do,' shouted an annoyed Toshiro as his last attack just failed miserably.

'Calm down captain, all we can do it wait, so let's just relax and chill out a bit,' said Rangiku as she lay down on the floor. Toshiro frowned at her and started pacing around the room.

The battle in the 'room' was getting intense the real Haruka had released her sword after nearly being cut across the neck, and the fake Haruka had done the same almost at the same time as well. Now they were constantly blasting arrows at each other. All you could see was an explosion there and an explosion here, the smoke from each blast was rather thick and it easily spread across the top of the forest, but that didn't stop them. They both jumped above the dust and attacked even more. Haruka was really getting annoyed and because no one was there to see it, she released her bankai, and just as she thought, the fake also released bankai. After that all you could see was blades flashing around violently often clashing. Spears flew everywhere, and an odd kido spell here and there causing huge explosions.

One explosion from two hado four broke them apart for a split second, 'I'm getting tired of this,' thought Haruka as she was losing stamina and her clone didn't seem to tire at all. She barely gets any time at all to think of a plan because the fake her was constantly on the offense and never hesitated. Usually acting by instinct isn't a problem for her because she could always depend on her superior skill and power to win, but now her opponent had the same power and skill she can't win with instinct along. Especially when the fake her knew what her next move was before she striked, but then again she knew her fake's attacks inside and out as well. Both attacked with perfection but also dodged with perfection. Only the real Haruka slipped up on a few occasions but they were nothing fatal.

'Dammit.' As another spear just missed her, 'come on, think Haruka, think,' she told herself before the fake Haruka attacked again.

She had to make time for herself to think so, although she didn't really wanted to, use an ability of her bankai known as 'Shadow Play'. This will be the first time she uses this ability after mastering it a few years ago. The ability basically creates decoys by cutting her power in half and creating multiple clones of her. She then blasted a 'roaring thunder cannon' at the fake Haruka and whilst it was enshrouded in dust she quickly escaped down into the forest whilst her clones fought with the fake her.

She quietly observed the way that the fake her fought and found that the fake her couldn't tell that they were clones.

'I see, so it can't adapt to the changing situation if I use a new skill?' thought Haruka watching in silence in the bushes. Surprisingly her clones were holding off the fake her pretty well which was good giving her more time to think. 'If it's a fake then it shouldn't be able to adapt to changes as it only knows what I know when I arrived here. That would explain why it didn't recognized my clones for what they are seeing as I only practiced that move but never used it in combat.' She put her hand onto her chin in a thinking pose, 'so if I were to change my style of fighting or use something new then I should be able to surprise her, tch, I'm surprised why I didn't think of this sooner.' Finally she had a plan to take down her fake, and just in the nick of time as well as her fake had destroyed the clones and has already noticed the real Haruka. The fake had charged straight downwards sword stretched out in front of her. The real Haruka smiled with satisfaction and raised her sword standing her ground, something she wouldn't normally do. The fake's sword smashed down with a tremendous amount of strength causing an impact strong enough to uproot a few trees within a twenty metre radius.

When the dust cleared it revealed that the fake Haruka was still in the air, face full of shock, her sword still pointed downwards but didn't reach the real Haruka but only made contact with what looked like an invisible barrier that was a few centimeters away from her body.

'Now here's a new ability just for you, it's called The Dragon's wing, which is a powerful shield that blocks any attacks that are equal to or less then my strength. In other words, you can't hurt me because you're always equal to me, the only down side is, I can only hold it up for five minutes max without tiring out as it drains my spiritual energy like mad. But, five minutes is enough to beat you,' explained Haruka. She pushed her hand upwards and instantly deflected her fake's blade knocking her into the air. Haruka, instead of jumping in front of her fake (what she'd normally do), went behind, 'I may be an honorable fighter, but who says I have to play fair against myself.' She lunged at her fake's back and easily pierced through, the fake didn't even see it coming. But the fake didn't disappear or anything, it just turned in mid-air and attacked. But her attack was cut short by The Dragon's Wing and didn't come anywhere near hitting Haruka. Whilst her fake attacked, the real Haruka flash stepped above her and launched a Hado thirty three 'Pale Fire Crash' down and it slammed into her fake causing her to crash down into the ground. The fake somehow managed to get up and, although covered in blood and looking like it's nearly dead, jumped up and charged again at Haruka.

It has been two minutes. The Dragon's Wing blocked for her so she stood her ground, and fired out a volley of spears from her sword. Her fake did the same and the spears crashed against each other in the middle causing a big explosion. But that was exactly what Haruka planned, whilst the fake was busy with the volley of her spears, she quickly sneaked behind her.

'Die,' she screamed as she made a final attack of black coffin. The huge black box swallowed up a completely distracted fake Haruka. A second later, the box vanished and a blood soaked Haruka appeared from it. She slowly turned towards the real Haruka, and smiled!

'Well played. Haruka Rose, the eye of Light is now yours, if you can take it,' she said like she was proud of her. At that exact moment she vanished, and a shining eye stood where she was.

'At last,' thought a relieved Haruka, as she glided towards the eye and took it into her hands. 'Hmmm… I remember Ukitake saying that I'll know what to do when I get there, so…' she stared at the eye for a while.

Then suddenly just about when she was getting fed up, the eye started to glow once more. 'Now this is more like it,' she thought happily. But that happiness only lasted a few seconds as the eye suddenly turned bright red and sent out huge waves of spiritual energy. Every wave felt like behind hit by a car going at a hundred miles per hour. Haruka tried to move out of its way by going back but before she could do anything the eye darted into Haruka's necklace.

There was suddenly a tremendous surge of power from inside her, trying to get out, trying to take over her.

Then Hidoragon's voice inside her said, 'this is the final stage Haruka, you must suppress the necklace's power, or you will be controlled by it. Don't fail now, you've come too far to let some other force take you over, I'll help you in anyway I can. Once you have completely suppressed this spiritual energy then you will have complete control of your final and most powerful release. Good luck.' Hidoragon's voice faded, and as it did the force that was trying to escape seemed to have died down just a little bit.

'Thanks Hidoragon,' she thought and she put all her energy into suppressing the tremendous amount of spiritual energy. The energy, even with Hidoragon helping, is still very powerful. Haruka felt as if she had just been stabbed fifty times. Blood had started to drip from Haruka's mouth.

Her eyes were getting blurry; all she could see were huge red waves of spiritual pressure spreading out with huge force with her as the centre. She closed her eyes and concentrated harder on using her own massive amount of spiritual energy to hold back this spiritual energy.

She could feel Hidoragon's strength also inside her helping her. But the pain was still there, she felt as if she was going to burst open. It was all she could do to stop herself from screaming.

'Come on Haruka, I know you can do better than this. We can finish this now, give it all you've got,' shouted Hidoragon so her voice was loud enough for Haruka to here over the pain.

'Alright,' agreed Haruka, she didn't know how long she could last, cuts were appearing across her shoulders and back and she was losing quite a bit of blood. Her energy was being drained, she could bare stand. She was at her limit, 'if this doesn't work, then I'm done for.' She let out a cry, and sent what remaining spiritual energy she had all at once at forcing the other energy back. Hidoragon simultaneously combined her strength with Haruka's, it was a painful experience for Haruka, she coughed up blood and was unable to stand anymore.

'Hang in there Haruka, we've almost got it,' shouted Hidoragon. Haruka couldn't take anymore, after just having such a long a tiring battle this really wasn't healthy for her. She was screaming in pain, blooding was everywhere, she couldn't take much more. She was slowly losing consciousness, and then suddenly, just when Haruka thought she was about to die, it stopped. Everything was still, the pain went, she could see again, she didn't have much strength left, but she could stand.

Then out of nowhere she heard Rangiku and Toshiro's voice calling, 'Haruka, Haruka.' She slowly, balancing on her sword, stood up and saw that she was back in the room she was before. She looked around and noticed that the middle room wasn't there anymore.

And there was Rangiku right beside her, 'Hey Haruka, you okay? My goodness, you're covered in blood, what happened in there?' asked Rangiku urgently.

'Long story, no time to explain, get me to squad four, can't stand for much longer,' panted Haruka.

'Squad four? Of course, come on captain, give me a hand,' said Rangiku as she lifted up Haruka. Toshiro opened a gate to soul society, and they jumped through.

'Rest easy now, this fight is over, need to know anymore just ask me when you wake up, I'll always be by your side,' said a calming Hidoragon's voice, and at that moment Haruka blacked out.

**Back to school in exactly a weeks time**, **i actually don't mind, beats being bored all the time, so anyway, next chp MAY be a bit late because i'm preparing for school, but probably not**


	34. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32 – Ambush (****Ketu****)**

'Hey Ket slow down, I only just learnt flash step so I'm not that good at it yet,' panted Hanataro trying to catch up with Ketu. They were running at high speed across the Pacific Ocean following Hanataro's directions towards the Ring of Fire. Ketu was going at his usual speed, but that was enough to be faster than a slow Hanataro reading a map whilst running.

'Tch, show some respect, I am a captain after all, and anyway it's not my fault you're slow,' said Ketu.

'Oh sorry, I just said Ket by accidently, please accept my apology captain Zakura,' said Hanataro not being sarcastic thought.

'Ha ha, got ya. I'm just messing with ya, call me what ever you want. By the way, are we there yet?'

'Yep, nearly there, I can see the ring of fire from here,' said Hanataro tucking away the map into his kimono.

'That's another thing, what exactly is the ring of fire?'

'The pacific ring of fire is an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean, in a forty thousand kilometre horseshoe shape. It is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes in total and is home to over fifty percent of the real world's active and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world's earthquakes and eighty one percent of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a direct result and consequence of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of crustal plates,' recited Hanataro.

'O…kay, I see,' said Ketu with a blank expression on his pace.

'You didn't understand a word I just said did you?'

'Well, it's more to the fact that I lost you completely on the word, area.'

Hanataro sighed, 'well, that doesn't matter, you see that small island coming up.' He pointed at what looks like a small deserted island in the middle of no where.

'Yeah,' confirmed Ketu.

'That's where we're headed.'

'I see, then what are we waiting for,' said Ketu enthusiastically and he shot off at high speed towards the island leaving Hanataro behind.

'Hey, wait for me,' shouted Hanataro desperately trying to catch up.

The island slowly became more and more into view as they ran. The island actually isn't that big, but was quite easy to spot because it stood out being in the middle of the sea.

They ran past mainland areas to their left and right as they constantly splashed up water. They were moving at an incredible pace running the length of Australia in a matter of minutes.

'Look, over to our left is the Tonga and Kermadec trench. And to our right is the Middle America and Peru-Chile trench.' Hanataro went out naming all the trenches the names of volcanoes etc. as they went along. Ketu just nodded and said yes at all the intervals when there was nothing there, to pretend that he was listening.

When they arrived at the island they were surprised to see how bare it was. Basically it was just like a scaled down version of the Sahara desert except it has a little shack in the middle of the desert. The island itself wasn't that big either, to be precise it was about as big as two football fields stuck together length wise. But obviously it the edges isn't straight.

'Wow, it's a wonder how no one spotted this island with radars and stuff these days it should be easy,' said Ketu scratching his head as they stepped onto the island.

'Well, this specific island is covered by a barrier that disables any electronic equipment, so no humans could ever spot this island unless they have a substantial amount of spiritual pressure and are near enough to it.'

'I see,' said Ketu barely paid any attention to Hanataro as he walked around the island studying it. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the island just a normal wasteland.

'Nothing out of the ordinary around here, but I can sense a huge amount of spiritual energy escaping from somewhere below the island. That's probably why it has a barrier around it, with this much spiritual energy leaking out it'd easily attract hundreds of hollows,' explained Ketu.

'Ah, so we need to think of a way to go underneath it right?' asked Hanataro face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

'Indeed,' agreed Ketu. 'Just one problem though. The spiritual energy I sensed is somewhere really deep underground.'

'How deep? It can't be that deep seeing as the island is just this small.'

'Actually this is just the top of a dormant volcano that has formed a crust on the mouth. And from my observations I can tell you that this is no ordinary volcano, for one the sides doesn't slope downwards like a normal mountain or volcano should but the sides virtually goes straight downwards, only slanting only a couple of degrees. Also I'm only sixty percent sure that this is a volcano because it's just so odd for a volcano to be cuboid shaped. But I found many volcanic rocks around the vicinity of the island so that part points towards the island being part of a volcano.'

Hanataro listen quietly and intently until Ketu had finished. 'So how deep is it and have you got any ideas of getting down there?' asked Hanataro.

'Here's the thing, the spiritual energy I sense is about three thousand metres deep. I.e. three kilometres deep underneath the sea. But if I can sense it strongly up here then when we get down there it'll probably be massive and you might not be able to take it.'

'Three kilometres deep?! Are you serious and what do you mean I can't take it?' exclaimed Hanataro.

'To put it simply, if it's big up here then it'll be magnified multiple times down there, so in other words, that much spiritual pressure can flatten you to a pancake.'

Hanataro shrieked in astonishment to Ketu blunt way of putting things. 'Well, what can I do then? And do you have any idea on getting down there?'

'Well firstly I want you to stay up here and stay safe, also I have no clue on how to get down there, but maybe that little shack over there does,' said Ketu nodding to the lonely little shack in the middle of the island.

'Well then, let's go and that a look,' said Hanataro full of enthusiasm, happily walking towards the shack.

Ketu arrived first, he knocked. No answer. He knocked again. No answer. They stood there and waited for a few minutes. A chilling breeze blew gently across the island.

'Maybe we should come back later?' suggested Hanataro.

'Tch, like we've got time.' He tried pushing the door, but it was locked so that was a no go. 'That's it I'm breaking it down, unless.' He reached out to turn the knob.

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' said Hanataro who was shivering slightly.

'Don't be such a wuss, I'm opening the door.' But just when he was about to touch it, there was a slight shake and the entire shack instantly vanished revealing a large square shaped area underneath it which was surprisingly covered in a patch of grass. 'Now that's looking very suspicious,' said Ketu in a slow and studious voice. Then suddenly the island started shaking violently and stopped just as suddenly.

'Heh heh, did the barrier just break down, looks like it's my lucky day,' sniggered a freakishly high hollow voice behind them, like that of a mad clown.

Ketu immediately drew his sword and turned around to a scary sight. There were thousands of hollows that filled the skies surrounding the island even Gillian and Adjuchas menos.

'Oh shit,' he cursed staring into the group of hollows with disbelief.

Hanatarou was freakishly panicking and randomly running around like a headless chicken going, 'Oh dear, oh dear, what do we do, what do we do, we're dead, we're dead,' really fast and repeating it.

'Hey calm down, it's not as bad as it seems. There's only a couple of thousand hollows. We can take them,' said Ketu confidently.

'Only a couple of thousand! Have you lost your mind, we can't take this many. We need to call for backup,' panicked Hanataro getting his phone.

'Hold the phone, let's see why this many hollows appeared here in the first place. You see I'm rather intrigued.

'Your friend there seems to be a little over energetic,' laughed one of the Adjuchas who was commanding the attack.

'Never mind him. Tell me what business do you have here?' asked Ketu forcefully pointing his sword at the hollow.

'Well seeing as neither of you will survive I see no reason why I shouldn't tell you. This island has always been leaking high amounts of spiritual pressure, and we as hollows are very attracted to that.'

'That still doesn't mean why this many gathered,' thought Ketu glancing around trying to get an estimate.

'Over the years we've been carefully observing the island trying to find out who exactly was leaking this much spiritual energy just incase it was someone powerful.'

'You know, you're very smart for a hollow,' said Ketu but there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

'Flattery will get you no where. Wasn't I talking before anyway? Well, when the years went by more and more hollows gathered around here, and me, being an Adjuchas had a bit of control over them, I made them wait so they didn't hastily rush in. In the end someone finally came out of that little shack and it was just a young girl, not even a soul reaper. And we went for her straight away, but then she used some sort of weird magic and formed a barrier around the entire island and we couldn't get within a fifty metre radius of it. We've been waiting here ever since and our numbers have grown as well, we've all been attracted here by that spiritual energy. We will have the girl,' the hollow finished and licked his lips hungrily.

'You're sick. You're gonna die before you get anywhere, it's actually your unlucky day to run into a captain ranked soul reaper,' said Ketu fearlessly.

'Ooo, I'm shaking now. Ha, after this many hollows have gathered do you really think we'd fear just one mere captain ranked soul reaper? You're too full of yourself soul reaper, don't underestimate us.' The hollows were getting ready to strike, they were already slowly closing in on the island.

'Tch, guess we'll have to do it the hard way,' he poised his sword ready to attack. He put a hand out behind him, 'Hanataro stay back, I'll handle this.'

'Er, okay sure,' stuttered Hanataro backing off.

Why don't you just surrender yourself now soul reaper. It'll save you the hassle of a humiliating defeat. I promise you death will be painless,' sneered the hollow with a sarcastic caring voice.

'You make me sick, hado number four, pale lightning,' he shouted launching a preemptive strike on the Adjuchas controlling the other hollows. But the attack didn't make contact as a squirrel sized hollow jumped in the way and blocked the shot, but was blasted to pieces.

'You've hand your attack, now it's our turn. GET HIM,' commanded the hollow and as soon as he gave the order every hollow in the sky flew straight for Ketu.

Ketu jumped up and blasted a few hollows out of the sky before they reached him using a few hado spells. He was about to release his sword, but the hollows grabbed his arm before he could throw his sword up.

'Bastards, get of me,' he shouted pushing off the hollows. The hollows hovered in front of him looking at him hungrily as he backed off. He stopped as he bumped into Hanataro. They were back to back, in the middle of the island standing on the only patch of grass completely surrounded by hollows.

'Erm, any clue as to how to get away or beat them?' asked Hanataro nervously.

'Well, I've always got my bankai as a last resort. I should be able to blast a hole through their lines and we can escape through there.'

'How about doing it now then?' you could see the sweat trickling down from Hanataro's head, he was obviously scared.

'Alright, if you're that scare.' Ketu got ready to release his bankai, 'Ban-' before he could complete the word. The floor beneath them opened up, he only had a seconds notice before he plummeted underground into the darkness. The grass patched floor was actually a trap door, and it had closed again. Hanatarou screamed as they fell, deeper and deeper into the volcano.


	35. Chapter 33

Chapter 33 - Kiyo

**Chapter 33**** - Kiyo**

The darkness was never-ending, it swallowed everything. Hanataro and Ketu had been falling for sometime now and surprisingly Hanataro had stopped screaming.

'That's strange,' thought Ketu as he soared downwards at a quick speed, 'the spiritual pressure that I sensed should have gone up considerably, but it's only going up a bit. Hmm… but even still it's quite a significant amount of spiritual energy to be hidden out in the middle of no where.'

'Hey er… Ket, since it's a volcano. Shouldn't we have melted already?' asked Hanataro trying to do a thinking pose in mid-air.

'That is a good point. Even if a volcano is dormant it should still have substantial amounts of magma underneath it. Maybe I was wrong and this isn't a volcano.' Ketu put his hand to his chin and was deep in thought again.

'Don't look now, but I see a light down there,' said Hanataro pointing a small light beneath them that was growing larger with every second as they fell.

'Ah wonderful, so is this what people mean by delight at the end of the tunnel,' smiled a delighted Ketu.

'Delight? If we fall at this speed we're gonna go splat and go splat,' said Hanataro worriedly, 'I don't know about you but I'm getting out of here.' Then he comically tried to run upwards… and failed.

'Calm down, watch and learn.' Ketu chucked his sword up, 'Fly, Kazedoragon.' The wind dragon appeared above him and dived with him at exact speeds. The exit was coming up fast the light was getting brighter and closer.

'If you're gonna do something now's the time,' shouted Hanataro urgently. Ketu immediately reacted just as they were about to reach the light and moved his hand downwards. The dragon sped up and whipped up a whirlwind beneath them as they landed. The whirlwind cushioned their fall and slowly dropped them down.

They had arrived at a large set of double doors, which was very elegantly decorated with dragons everywhere on it. These large doors blocked the entire cave, there was only a little room behind them. The height was just right for Ketu and Hanataro to stand in. Ketu resheathed his sword.

'That spiritual pressure, it's coming from in here,' said Ketu walking up and feeling the door.

'Yeah, I can feel it as well. It's quite strong, I can barely stand up against it,' panted Hanataro.

'Maybe you should stay here then and rest up, it may be a powerful enemy up ahead and I don't want you to get hurt.'

'No it's fine, I can handle this.' Hanataro took a deep breath and started breathing normally again. 'See?'

Ketu shrugged and reached out to push the door. It was surprisingly easy to open, a light push from Ketu and the double doors swung open.

What was behind the doors was such a sight to see. It was like an old Japanese film set, the Japanese style building in the middle surrounded by beautiful forest scenery around it. The entire place was surrounded on all four sides by a huge cliff side reaching up to the skies with the sun beaming down on this place. Birds and other wild animals were happily doing what they were doing scurrying hurriedly around the place. Ketu and Hanataro walked into the 'front garden'. There were flowerbeds everywhere in this garden with all kinds of flowers. A few trees also grew in the corners of the garden. The main house was directly in front of the main entrance between it stood the garden.

'There's no water or magma here? That's strange, are we even underground?' Ketu asked himself as he surveyed the area.

'Wow, what a pretty place, I'd love to live here,' said Hanataro who was right behind Ketu as he entered, also studying the area.

Ketu then noticed that a young girl had been hiding behind a tree ever since they arrived. She was peeking out from the tree when Ketu spotted her.

'That spiritual pressure, so it was her?' thought Ketu. He walked slowly and calmly towards the tree so as to not arouse suspicion.

He got within a few feet of the tree and stopped, the girl had already disappeared behind it again.

'Hi there, don't be shy, we're not here to hurt anyone. Me and my friend here fell down through a whole in the ground and ended up here. Can you help us please?' asked Ketu as politely and gently as he could.

Hanataro also came over and stood next to Ketu. 'Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Hanataro Yamada,' he said bowing gently. When the girl didn't give a reply he continued on, 'beside me is Ketu Zakura, we are both from the Gotei thirteen in soul society. We mean no harm.'

The girl poked her head out, glanced at Ketu and came out from behind the tree. She was in her early twenties, long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a beautiful red kimono decorated with flowers on it.

She bowed courteously, 'nice to meet you both, my name is Kiyo.' She looked at Ketu and stared at him for a while. 'Are you a captain in the Gotei thirteen by any chance?' she asked Ketu.

'Indeed I am, did you tell that by the haori?' answered Ketu.

'No, I knew because I've been waiting for you,' she said elegantly.

'Waiting? For me? What do you mean?'

'I have been trapped down here for many years because of the hollows. Then one day, in a dream, a dragon came to me and said 'wait for the one named Ketu, he will free you, he is a captain of the Gotei thirteen in soul society, trust him'. I honestly couldn't believe it myself, but something deep inside me told me to trust that dragon. So I've waited here ever since, and at last you have come.'

'Wow, a dragon said that? In a dream? I don't know what to say except, sure I'll help you out, just tell me what you need,' grinned Ketu.

'Ket, we can't. Our mission is to find your eye, we need to get going and fast,' interrupted Hanataro.

'We can postpone that, I mean how can you just leave her after knowing she's in trouble? You're not that kind of a man are you?'

'I can see I'm not going to win against you. Fine, but is we get in trouble you're bailing us out.'

'No problems.' Ketu turned to Kiyo, 'what exactly am I suppose to free you from anyway?'

Kiyo shivered and uttered out two words, 'the hollows.'

'Oh right, that massive mob of hollows, I see. Well, can I ask you one thing first?'

'Sure, ask away.'

'Do you know that the reason they are there is because that you have such a high spiritual pressure that is constantly leaking out. That's why the hollows were attracted here.'

'Really, so it was my fault all alone,' said Kiyo, saddened.

'But don't worry, I know a way we can get you out of here. I have a spell that can mask your spiritual pressure, and they you can quietly ride my sword out of here.'

'Ride you sword?' said a confused Kiyo.

'Yeah, my sword is a wind dragon and I can guide the wind if you stand on it and it can guide you out of here. Because you're not a spirit I can't use Konsai to get you to soul society so, as soon as we're clear of the hollows I can open a gate to soul society, get you there and you can live there in peace.'

'Great! So how do we do it?' Kiyo seemed to have cheered up a lot and is full of enthusiasm.

'We're going to have to come back to look for the eye won't we?' asked Hanataro.

'Yep, but getting Kiyo to safety is our first priority, after all I can't just leave her here. It's a soul reapers duty to protect.'

'Well you are a higher rank than I am, so I'll just follow your orders then.'

'Good. Come here Kiyo,' said Ketu gently. Kiyo stood in front of Ketu. He put his hands together and muttered some words under his breath and waved his hands above Kiyo. And he was done, an invisible cloaking shield was cast over Kiyo, and it was impossible for hollows to detect her.

'Wow, that's some kido abilities you have Ket,' praised Hanataro.

'Well, I ain't a captain for nothing.' Ketu pulled out his sword, Kiyo backed off a bit, 'You sure you want to leave this place? You've made up your mind?' he asked just to be sure.

'Yes. I have lived here for too long, I want to see the outside world,' said Kiyo reassuringly.

'Good, by the way, where does this exit go exactly?' asked Ketu looking up at the clear blue sky above them surrounded on all sides by hillsides.

'It leads to an exit south of where you dropped in, that long tunnel you dropped in through was a magic one that actually teleports you to here. The hollows shouldn't notice us if we leave quietly as they are probably faced the other way.'

'Alright, that's good. Fly Kazedoragon.' Ketu threw his sword into the sky and it vanished replaced with the shape of a dragon.

'Hey wait, that's the dragon that was in my dream!' suddenly exclaimed Kiyo.

'Really, wow, I doubt this is a coincidence. I guess it must be fate for me to save you then. All the more reason to do it I guess.' He signaled for hanataro to stand next to him. 'Hanataro, listen, if the hollows do spot us I want you to take Kiyo back to soul society. I'll hold the hollows off for as long as I can and without my sword it'll be more difficult, but it should be enough time for you to escape.'

Suddenly Kiyo ran and hugged Ketu, 'don't die for my sake,' she said with a most sincere voice.

'Don't worry, as I've said many times, I'm not a captain for nothing. Now stop worrying about me, just get to soul society, if worst come to worst leave me and I promise I'll meet you there. Understand.'

'Yes,' she said although her voice wasn't a definite one.

'Good, then let's get going.' Ketu wave his hands around them and the dragon whirled around to them easily lifting all three off them off the ground.

'Have I ever told you I get air sick?' said Hanataro shuddering as the ground left them.

'No time to worry about that now, hold tight,' shouted Ketu over the noise of the passing winds. The dragon suddenly sped up tremendously and approached the exit at high speed. Ketu stood on the head of the dragon whilst Hanataro and Kiyo were barely able to hang on.

They burst out into open seas.

'Wow, so this is what the outside world looks like,' exclaimed Kiyo.

'Don't look now but we may have company,' warned Ketu as he saw the hollows to their north had just turned around to the sudden noise of the wind. 'Damn, guess I was too fast coming up, never mind.' He directed the dragon to go the opposite way and they flew as fast as they could. But then they stopped.

'Ha ha ha, your escape attempt is futile,' sniggered the Adjuchas that suddenly appeared in front of them with a dozen or so menos grande behind him. 'Blast them with cero.' All the menos obeyed and red balls gathered in front of their mouths and each fired out one cero blast. Ketu reacted quickly and flew upwards, avoiding the attack, but then hollows appeared from no where above him and flew at him.

'Tch, I had a feeling it'd come to this, no choice then,' thought Ketu. He whipped up a sort of wind barrier in front of the dragon and bashed his way through the hollows. He jumped off as all the hollows turned to chase them. 'Hanataro, it's up to you, get her to soul society, we won't be able to escape all of these, my dragon will only take you a bit of the way away from here because it can't leave me that far, but you should be at a same distance to open a gate. I'll hold them off, and I promise I'll meet you in soul society later.'

'Wait, Ket, I can't do that, I don't leave anyone behind,' said Hanataro trying to sound brave.

'Yeah this is crazy, you can't risk your life for me, it isn't worth it,' argued Kiyo.

'I already have,' said Ketu, he waved his hand and the dragon shot off into the distance.

The hollows was going to chase but the Adjuchas stopped them, 'stop, there's no need to go after two people with little spiritual pressure, this one has the most, all hollows attack him.

'Looks like my cloaking spell worked,' thought Ketu. Then all at once every single hollow that was there attacked him. The only thing he could do was use kido spells, but one man can't face an army. He was completely overwhelmed and within a second he disappeared under a pile of hollows.

Already a few hundred metres away Ketu's dragon had disappeared leaving Hanataro and Kiyo in enough space to escape to soul society.

'We've got to go back,' pleaded Kiyo. 'He could die out there.'

'B-but he told us to escape, he promised to meet us and anyway, I'm no good at fighting,' muttered Hanataro. Out of no where Kiyo turned around and slapped him.

'Are you a man or women? You're a soul reaper, you duty is to help and protect and there's a man out there who need our help. I may only be a normal girl but I know when action needs to be taken. So snap out of it and let's go!' snapped Kiyo.

'That was an inspiring speech. And you know what, you're right. I'm always not able to anything, but this time I'll be the one doing the saving.'

'That's the spirit, now let's go.'

They quickly turned around and head back.

'So. What's the plan?' asked Kiyo.

'First, we need to check if he really does need our help. If he does then the plan is, go in grab Ket, and run the other way,' said Hanataro trying to sound calm but he was shaking all over.

'Sounds good to me.' When they arrived back to where the hollows were all they saw was a pile of hollows altogether in one area.

'Oh my god, don't tell me.' Kiyo shuddered, face full of fear and worry.

'Damn you hollows, give me back my friend,' shouted Hanataro and foolishly charging into the group of hollows.

'Wait, don't act so hastily,' warned Kiyo but it was too late Hanataro was already three quarters of the way there.

'If I can't even help a friend then what use am I. I'll show them all that I can do something,' Hanataro thought to himself giving himself determination and confidence. He pulled out his sword, the red gauge on it was surprisingly near full. 'Gathering up all the wounds of the people back in Venice was a great idea. After years of training I should be able to control how much of the gauge I use in one shot, so I can fire off many shots.' He got ready to attack.

'You're just a weakling, get lost,' laughed the Adjuchas who stepped in his way.

'No, you get lost from my friend! Fulfil, Hisagomaru,' he shouted and used up just less than half the gauge. The sword turned to a scalpel and blasted a wave of green energy powerful enough to make the Adjuchas fly away and blast the hollows in the pile apart.

The next scene wasn't pretty, Ketu was hanging in mid-air, missing parts of his body, probably been eaten by the hollows. Completely covered from head to toe with blood, his left arm was gone, parts of his face were missing, and half of his left leg was gone as well. Blood still dripped from each wound, a truly sickening sight.

Hanataro was momentarily distracted by the horrendous scene but soon gained back his momentum, rushed over and grabbed Ketu. Hollows gathered in his path again, but surprisingly his zanpakuto has turned back to its normal form with half the gauge filled. Hanataro acted exceedingly quick (for his standards) and drove his sword in Ketu's chest. Some of Ketu's wounds instantly closed up and the red gauge of Hisaomaru filled up completely.

Hanataro removed the blade and swung at the hollows blocking his way. The much bigger blast of energy came from the scalpel and removed the obstacle in his way. He threw Ketu at Kiyo shouting, 'run with him.'

Kiyo caught him and hugged him closely tears forming in her eyes. Hanataro speedily flash stepped next to them.

'Come on, we need to go,' he said urgently.

They were about to move when suddenly another Adjuchas hollow appeared in front of them.

'My friend called me over to block some soul reapers. Looks like I made it just in time,' said the hollow giving a devilish grin. And soon Hanataro, Kiyo and Ketu were surrounded by hollows again.

'Now what,' thought Hanatarou who waas starting to go back to his old timid self.

Kiyo was crying holding Ketu close to her, 'I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to cause anyone harm,' she sobbed.

Ketu slowly opened his eyes, it's a miracle that he was still alive. 'There's no need to cry,' he whispered, 'we'll get out of this alive, don't worry.'

Kiyo wiped her tears, 'I'm sorry.' A tear dropped from onto Ketu's necklace, and she started to glow.

Hanataro turned round to the light, 'what the?' Kiyo shined even brighter the light intensity heightened and the hollows screamed.

You could here the Adjuchas screaming, 'it burns, it burns,' before completely disintegrating.

Kiyo's body blasted out waves of light energy, obliterating all hollows that were within a three mile radius. Soon there were no hollows at all in the area, it at last has become clam. Kiyo was still glowing but much less.

'Thank you for helping me, you showed me true benevolence' she said with a sweet voice, 'and now I can repay you.' One more bright flash and she turned into an eye. Ketu was still unconscious, the eye floated gently into Ketu's necklace giving off another bright flash. A second later, Ketu's injuries were all slowly healing themselves, his arm, leg and face were all growing back, and all his other wounds closed.

Hanataro smiled. After Ketu was back to normal, he hoisted him onto his shoulder, opened a gate to soul society and went back together.


	36. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**** – The eye of Agility (Ratiasu)**

'Ah, the great pyramids of Egypt, what a sight to see,' exclaimed Ratiasu upon arriving by the pyramids in Cairo.

'We don't have time for sight seeing, let's get a move on I haven't cut anything for a while and I'm bored,' complained an annoyed Kenpachi walking off the other way.

'Hey don't just go off on your own, unless you know which pyramid we're going to.'

'It was Abu Rawash wasn't?'

'How did you remember something like that?' asked an astonished Ratiasu.

'I told him,' said a cheery Yachiru popping out her head from behind Zaraki's back.

'Even so the eye said twenty days, and it took us exactly eighteen days to get here. So we still have two days left, don't be in such a rush, let's enjoy our two days,' said Ratiasu.

'Yeah come on Kenny, let's have some fun,' encouraged Yachiru.

'Oh great, she's got you all excited now. Tch, I guess I have no choice. Fine, you lead the way, keep in mind that I'm the least bit interested,' said Kenpachi.

For the next two days they changed into gigais and enjoyed a much need R&R. Kenpachi did stand out however with his massive height towering above anyone. There was surprisingly no hollow activity in the area which gave them both days free. The visited and scouted out the pyramid of Abu Rawash, even went in it and had a tour, but found nothing suspicious. They explored the city of Cairo which was surprisingly modern. They also visited the many landmarks of Egypt e.g. the sphinx, the valley of kings, the mausoleum. Kenpachi actually enjoyed it even though he kept complaining it was boring, and obviously Yachiru and Ratiasu enjoyed the free time.

The two days ended too quickly for Ratiasu's liking and they were soon back on the doorsteps of the pyramid of Abu Rawash.

'Come on let's go, I've waited too long already,' grunted Kenpachi.

'Alright alright, calm down,' said Ratiasu walking into the pyramid. 'There's one thing though. Why this particular pyramid? It would've made more sense if it was a famous pyramid or something.'

'What do I care, I just want to slice something up.'

'Yay, Kenny's going to kill something!' cheered Yachiru on Kenpachi's back.

'That's not something a kid should cheer about, but then again it is you, guess being around Kenpachi has influenced you quite a bit,' thought Ratiasu as they moved deeper into the pyramid. 'Still, I do wonder why it's precisely this pyramid.' They stopped when they reached a fork in the tunnel, one that went up and one that went down.

'Damn, why didn't we explorer this place more fully the first time we were here. Oh wait I remember, because you said you were bored,' Ratiasu said pointing at Kenpachi.

'Tch, why don't we just pick a path and go that way? We can always come back if need be,' said Kenpachi.

'Great idea Kenny, I say we go down,' insisted Yachiru.

'Up? You two have been known to have the worst sense of direction, I say we go up,' argued Ratiasu.

'Hey my directions aren't bad, I have excellent direction sensing abilities.'

'Says the person who can never find their way around seireitei,' muttered Ratiasu. But unfortunately Yachiru heard her, and she jumped on Ratiasu.

'You take that back you liar,' shouted Yachiru.

'I don't need to take back the truth,' Ratiasu shouted back trying to get Yachiru off her hair. And they were like that for a while (no it's not a cat fight), until Kenpachi decided to move down on his own.

'Hey, wait for me Kenny,' shouted Yachiru running to catch up to Kenpachi.

'Whatever, guess we can always come back,' thought Ratiasu so she went down after them anyway.

They walked down the thin tunnel one after each other for about twenty minutes with nothing at all interesting happening until the reached… a dead end.

'So, do you see what I mean, I knew we should't have your direction, now we gotta walk all the way back, and we have little Yachiru to blame,' taunted a triumphant Ratiasu. She started walking back first, then an unhappy Yachiru jumped and attacked her again. Kenpachi sighed, grabbed both girls and ran at full speed back to the fork in the tunnel in less than a minute.

'Wow, that was fast, er… thanks I guess,' said Ratiasu.

'Yay that was fun, let's do it again,' cheered Yachiru. Kenpachi ignore them both and walked upwards. 'Aww, don't leave without me. Wait up.' Yachiru hurried after him.

'I wonder what that was about, Kenpachi's awfully quiet, hmm…' though Ratiasu and then she suddenly realized they had left without her. 'Hey wait for me.'

They blimbed gingerly through the tunnel which was widening with each step they took. The tunnel wasn't lit by anything so the tunnel itself was quite dark, only a light at the end gave some light to the tunnel. Kenpachi, still keeping unusually quiet was in front and walking quickly towards the end.

'Hey captain Kenpachi. Is it just me or are you being a bit quiet at the moment?' asked Ratiasu nervously.

'Maybe I am a bit, don't worry, it's because I couldn't be arsed interfering with your little argument and decided to stay out of it. After all, I do my fighting on the battle field,' he turned round and gave a devilish smile before carrying on. Ratiasu decided it was best not to say anymore so she followed in silence. Not even Yachiru said anything.

They reached the end of the tunnel and entered a huge hall. It had a gigantic gate on the other side, weird Egyptian statues lined up on either side of the hall and four tall torches stood on all four corners of the rectangular shaped hall, one lit, the other three unlit.

'This is unusual,' thought Ratiasu stepping into the hall.

'Wow, looks like a fun playground, exclaimed Yachiru who was jumping around the place climbing on the statues. Kenpachi didn't pay her any attention and advanced towards the gate opposite.

'Hey Yachiru, it's not a good idea to play on those, who knows how long they've been here, they could fall apart at any second,' warned Ratiasu.

'Awww, but they're so fun, and nothing looks broke to me, hee hee,' laughed Yachiru.

'Whatever,' sighed Ratiasu turning her attention to the gate ahead. Kenpachi had stopped looking spaced out staring at the gate. Ratiasu caught up with him and stood next to him.

'Sure is a big gate, I'm guessing this is where we're suppose to go next, question is how to get through,' said Ratiasu in a thinking way.

'I sense a massive amount of spiritual pressure behind this gate, it's almost luring me go it,' said Kenpachi whose voice sounded like he was in a trance.

'Erm… are you okay?' asked Ratiasu in a what-the-hell manner.

Kenpachi suddenly jerks and shakes his head, 'oh sorry, I didn't know what happened to me there.' He seemed to be back to his normal self. 'So, how do we get through then?' He asked completely ignoring Yachiru who was sliding down a statue laughing her head off.

Then, Ratiasu noticed something, 'hey look,' she said pointing near the top of the gate, 'If you look really closely you can see words inscribed on the edge of the gate and all the way round.'

Kenpachi looked as well, 'problem is, they're in some old language that non of us can understand.' But Ratiasu wasn't listening, she was concentrated on reading through the ancient language. 'You can understand it?'

Ratiasu finished reading and looked up at Kenpachi with a smile, 'surprisingly, yes.'

'So, what do we do?'

'It's actually pretty simple. Basically all the gate says is lit all four of the torches at the same time then unlock the gate with the key,' Ratiasu explained.

'And how do we light all the torches at the exact same time?' asked Kenpachi and looked over at the lit torch, 'there's only one stick there that can be used to light the others with the single flame, I doubt you can do that all at the same time.

'Did you forget that this eye is for me and me only? Which means something about me can do this task. Figured it out yet?' Ratiasu saw Kenpachi's blank and non bothered face and understood that he hadn't a clue, 'it's my speed, I can easily flash step to each place sequentially in less than a second.'

'Ah, I see. Well then, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and let's get this over with,' said Kenpachi impatiently.

Ratiasu flash stepped over to the wooden stick, picked it up and set it aflame using the lit torch. The stick was burning out pretty fast and looked like it can only last a few seconds. Ratiasu then immediately flash stepped to the rest of the torches and easily set them all alight just before the stick burnt out. The door gave a gold flash signaling that she had done it right.

'What next?' Kenpachi asked impatient as always.

'Just gotta unlock the door now with the key,' said Ratiasu walking towards the gate. She didn't wait for an answer from Kenpachi and carried on explaining because she knew he obviously was clueless, 'I saw a sword shaped hole in the gate, so I'm guessing that this is the keyhole, and my sword is the key.'

'Guess that makes sense, yay, go Terri,' cheered Yachiru who had stopped playing and now hangs on Kenpachi's shoulder again.

Ratiasu stuck her sword into the hole, turned it and pulled it out again. The gate glowed brightly and slowly creaked open. Behind it was an even brighter light that made everyone shield their eyes and Ratiasu jumped back next to Kenpachi.

'This is so shiny,' said Yachiru with her child like mind.

'Now's not the best time Yachiru,' replied Ratiasu unable to keep her eyes open.

'This is the massive amount of spiritual pressure I sensed earlier, let's see what it is shall we?' asked Kenpachi.

'I would if I could open my eyes,' said Ratiasu. Then all of a sudden the light vanished, and the room returned to its usual brightness. 'That was rather intense.'

Now that no light blocked their eye sight they were able to see beyond the gate, which wasn't at all anything impressive. It was just a light room, nothing but light surrounded the room. But what interested Ratiasu wasn't the light, or the room. It was the flashing eye hovering steadily in the middle of the room.

'There it is, what we came here to get,' said Ratiasu walking towards the eye. It responded to her and floated towards her as well. The eye passed the gate, and Ratiasu instantly knew something was wrong. The eye which had been hovering slowly towards her just suddenly shot at her, aimed for the necklace. It was absorbed into the necklace before it made contact so she didn't get hit.

But as soon as the eye was absorbed, Ratiasu started losing consciousness, she felt pain everywhere in her body as if something was trying to get out and she clutched her chest. She knelt down on the ground breathing fast, a voice suddenly appeared in her head saying, 'you're mine now Ratiasu. You are weak and don't deserve to control me, therefore I will control you, so give up and don't try to resist me, YOU'RE MINE.' A sudden surge of spiritual energy erupted inside Ratiasu, after a single heart beat, and she was knocked out cold, her weak body didn't stand a chance against that much power.

'Hey Terri, are you okay?' asked Yachiru getting off Kenpachi's shoulder and walking towards her.

But before Yachiru reached her, a pair of gigantic grey dragon wings sprouted from Ratiasu's back and wrapped itself around her. At this moment another surge of spiritual energy blasted out from Ratiasu and it was even strong enough to blast Kenpachi and Yachiru away into the wall.

'Terri, what's happened to you?' screamed Yachiru as she just managed to land unharmed on her feet.

The wings opened, and Ratiasu's appearance had changed. Her silver hair was now completely black, and her eyes had no pupils in them like she was in a trance or controlled. Her sword had changed into something demonic, red and black coloured and a skull for the guard.

'Ratiasu is no more,' she said, except it wasn't her voice. The voice was deep and evil enough to send Yachiru shivering in fear.

Kenpachi grinned with joy, 'now this is something worth fighting,' he shouted and got out his sword. He charged at Ratiasu without hesitation and slashed at her. She barely moved her arm as she raised her sword to defend.

Ratiasu laughed and said, 'weakling, I've got other people to kill, so I'll spare you life this time,' she didn't move, but a wave of spiritual pressure exploded from Ratiasu's sword and Kenpachi was blown away into the wall again. 'I'll give you a clue what I'm going to destroy, the one place Ratiasu loves, Soul Society.' She turned round opened a gate and disappeared into it.

'Ha, like I'm going to let you get away, this isn't over Ratiasu,' shouted Kenpachi his voice sounded happy, but then again what'd'ya expect. He jumped into the gate and disappeared also.

'Hey, don't leave me, wait up Kenny,' screamed Yachiru as she too jumped in after Kenpachi. The gate closed and the hall fell silent, an eerie silent.

**Note: The reason why it's that particular pyramid is because I went on Wikipedia, found a list of pyramids and randomly selected one**


	37. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35 – Kenpachi lose?**

A light at the end, Kenpachi, Yachiru and Ratiasu came bursting through into seireitei. Kenpachi launched a pre-emptive strike from behind Ratiasu just as they emerged, she flew upwards to dodge being able to see his attacks from a mile away and avoided any damage.

'You're a fool,' said Ratiasu and she blasted a black wave of energy from her wings, it hit Kenpachi and he plummeted down to the ground enveloped in a cloud of smoke.

Ratiasu saw Kenpachi hit the ground hard, and so she turned her back against him and was about to fly the other way when Kenpachi shouted behind him. 'Where do you think you're going?' followed by a big crash accompanied with a cloud of dust arising as he landed his blow.

Both of them jumped out of the cloud. 'You're getting annoying. Are you really this insane?'

'So what if I am, maybe now you'll fight me to the death, and besides, what would I do with something so useless as sanity anyway,' he screamed as he lunged at Ratiasu.

'If you were sane, then you would know it's futile to try and stop me,' she said insultingly as she held up her hand just as Kenpahci was about to land his attack. Crash, and another dust cloud arises, but it was quickly dispelled to reveal that Kenpachi's attack had hit a force field of some sorts just a centimetre away from Ratiasu's hand.

'What's this suppose to be?' asked Kenpachi trying to forcibly break the force field.

'It's a very strong force field, one that not even you can break.' She pointed out two fingers at him, 'Wave of destruction, number one: white thunder.' A bright wave of lightning bashed into Kenpachi in less than a second and he dropped from the air. But, surprisingly he landed on his feet, in blood, but still standing. 'I see, taking off your eye patch and trying to shield yourself using your spiritual energy. That's been done way too many times, but it does work pretty well.'

Kenpachi stopped panting and looked up at her, 'don't get cocky, I'm just warming up,' he shouted as he let out all his spiritual energy and shot upwards at her.

Meanwhile three soul reapers happened to walk past the fight on their patrol. The three being Simon McLovin, Craig Bently and Colin Salters.

'Hey, who's that fighting up there?' asked Simon staring at the huge explosions occurring nearly every second.

'I can see Captain of squad eleven, Kenpachi Zaraki up there, but who's that person with the wings?' asked Craig.

'Hey doesn't that look like, vice-captain Ratiasu from squad thirteen?' said Colin.

'Yeah, it does resemble her, minus the wings,' agreed Simon.

'I think we should report this to the other captains,' said Colin.

'Yeah, let's go, they're all in squad four's headquarters,' said Craig and the three set off immediately.

'A ha ha ha ha,' laughed Kenpachi maniacally as he was slashed in the shoulder, 'this is getting fun.' The clash of both blades rang out throughout soul society, many civilians have got out of their houses just to see what the noise was about. Also many other soul reapers have noticed that it was Kenpachi and Ratiasu fighting and are also reporting it to the captains down in squad four.

'Can't you accept defeat when it's staring you in the face?' asked Ratiasu after she successfully counterattacks and slashed Kenpachi across the arm. 'Give it up, your blade can't even get near me let alone trying to cut me.'

'Sorry but in my squad losing is unacceptable,' said Kenpachi with pride as he attacked with an uppercut.

Ratiasu flipped over and stabbed him in the back, 'there's a first time for everything, isn't there?' She pulled the blade out as Kenpachi loses large amounts of blood.

'If it goes on like this I may actually die, heh, sure is fun though,' he said looking at his blood, 'but I'm still not going to lose.' He turned around, caught Ratiasu by surprise and just managed to scratch her right shoulder.

'I like your fighting spirit, but if you won't stop then I've got no choice but to annihilate you.'

'Ha ha ha, like you can. I may not have wanted to do this but you leave me no choice. Have you noticed everyone uses one hand to hold their sword? Well if you use two hands it's called 'Kendo' and the power of the blade is hugely increased.'

'What are you ranting on about now? I haven't got time to here this crap, I've got soul society to destroy,' she said slashing at Kenpachi sideways.

'You should have listened,' said Kenpachi quietly as he grabbed his sword with both hands and swung it to block the attack. There was a huge impact and both of them were thrown backwards in the air.

'Impressive, very impressive. To increase the power of your sword by using both hands' strength, very clever. But it's not enough to beat me,' smiled Ratiasu and they both charged at each other again.

Kenpachi used both his hands and slashes his blade downwards, Ratiasu, still only one hand raised her sword above her and blocked. Another explosion, but Ratiasu held her ground and resulted in a weapon deadlock.

'Let me tell you something. A disadvantage of using two hands is that both your hands are occupied so when you're in a deadlock you've got no other hand to help break out of it. But I on the other hand, do.' Ratiasu pointed her fingers at Kenpachi again, his eyes lit up in shock. 'In the end, it's the person who can most effectively use both his hands who wins. Wave of destruction, number one: white thunder.' A flash of blue light followed by another huge explosion and both of them were covered completely by dust.

A few minutes before this the trio from before had just arrived at squad four headquarters. There was surprisingly no one guarding the front gates.

'Shall we go in?' asked Simon nervously.

'Well, I don't see any guards, so yeah, sure,' confirmed Colin. They walked through the front gates and still they saw no guards, but they saw no one around either.

'Are you sure they're here?' asked Craig.

'Yes I'm sure, there are only a few people here anyway. Only the people who went to the human world and that wasn't many, the rest of squad four must be doing other things,' explained Colin.

They walked into the main building via the unguarded front doors and wandered around the corridors looking for anyone. They heard voice down one corridor and decided to cautiously approach it just to make sure they weren't interrupting anything. But before they could get close footsteps approached from behind them.

'Who are you? There better be a good reason for you three being here or I may have to arrest you lot on suspicion of eavesdropping on a captains meeting,' said Toshiro advancing on the three with his sword out looking fierce with Rangiku quite far behind him.

'Oh, looks like you found some troublemakers captain,' joked Rangiku.

'No, no, it's not like that, we weren't here to eavesdrop on anything, we just came to report something,' said Simon trickles of sweat dripped from his forehead.

'Go on then, let's hear it,' said Toshiro forcefully not lowering his sword.

'We just saw Captain Zaraki and Vice-captain Ratiasu fighting in the sky and thought we'd better report this that's all. Oh and this Ratiasu wasn't herself, she had huge dragon wings and her spiritual pressure was weird,' said Simon explaining the report.

'I see, so I was right, that was Kenpachi's spiritual pressure that was slowly fading,' said Toshiro to himself.

'What should we do captain?' asked Rangiku.

'I'll go and see what's going on. Matsumoto, you go to report this to the other captains, and take those three with you. I'd rather not having them wandering around here disturbing the people resting. And if what they say is true then especially not Captain Zakura or Captain Kuchiki Rukia,' suggest Toshiro and he set off down the corridor and out an open window.

'Come with me you three,' said Rangiku, and they obeyed and followed her to the other captains that were fully fit and had completely healed.

Rangiku lead those three to a main room where the captains and vice-captains were and explained to everyone what had happened.

'Those who disturb the peace in soul society should not be allowed to live,' said Byakuya simply. He had been healed pretty well by Unohana and could easily go out in battle again.

'Shouldn't we wait to see how Kenpachi fares before acting? This winged Ratiasu does intrigue me however, maybe we should find out who she is first before doing anything rash,' said Shunsui sitting in a corner with Crystal asleep on his lap.

'I think that's a good idea, one of us should go and act as a scout there and once we're sure of what's happening then we move in,' agreed Hikari. 'Question is, who's the best for this job, someone who can hide their spiritual pressure, and someone who won't be tempted to join in the fight.'

'I'll go, seems like I fit your description perfectly,' said Raven.

'Are you sure about this, Captain Ruhodesu?' asked Hikari to confirm this.

'Yeah, why not, it's been a while since I've seen Kenpachi fight, this may be interesting.' And with that he was gone, flash stepped off in an instant.

'I actually said not hastily,' sighed Hikari.

'Don't worry, I'm sure he'll do what's needed of him,' said Byakuya looking out the window.

The fight still continues, Kenpachi was breathing heavily, blood covered every inch of his body whilst Ratiasu only has a shoulder scratch.

'I'll commend you on surviving a direct hit from white thunder. But your time is up Kenpachi Zaraki, you can not continue, if you wish for me to end your life then come at me again, if not then leave while you still have the chance,' said Ratiasu as she turned away.

Kenpachi gave a weak smile and surprisingly lunged at Ratiasu with all his remaining strength.

'I thought as much,' she said, without turning her back, she aimed a non-verbal hado number four at Kenpachi and it slashed him directly in the face. He was stopped dead in his tracks. Kenpachi one of the strongest warriors of the gotei thirteen, finally defeated. Ratiasu turned around, 'guess you want me to end your life huh? Fine by me,' she said as she too lunged at his chest. CRASH and she was blocked by Toshiro who appeared from nowhere and got in her way.

'What are you doing? This is my fight,' said Kenpachi choking on his own blood.

'Saving you the embarrassment of getting killed. You're in way over your head Kenpachi, back down and let me handle this,' ordered Toshiro.

Kenpachi laughed and unable to sustain himself up in the air dropped to the ground. Yachiru caught him halfway down and brought him to the ground gently.

'Hey Kenny wake up, you're alright aren't you?' asked Yachiru shaking Kanpachi's head. Kenpachi didn't answer, his eyes were closed and his breathing slow. 'You can't die on me Kenny, come on get up now.'

Raven had already arrived on the scene to see Kenpachi fall walked over to him. 'Don't worry. He'll be alright, you should take him to squad four headquarters, Captain Unohana should be able to easily treat his wounds,' said Raven with a comforting voice. Yachiru nodded, hoisted Kenpachi onto her back and ran away like that! 'That Yachiru's got some strength,' thought a shocked Raven having never seen Yachiru do anything apart from sitting on Kenpachi's shoulder. But Raven didn't stall any longer. He released his sword, hid his spiritual pressure and hid below Toshiro and Ratiasu.

Toshiro pointed a threatening sword at Ratiasu with a fierce face. 'What is the meaning of this Ratiasu, aren't we on the same side here? You better have a good explaination or I'll be forced to kill you.'

'The Ratiasu you knew is no more, I have taken control of her body. You say you're going to kill me? How amusing, a mere boy like you could not so much as touch me,' insulted Ratiasu.

Toshiro instantly knew that this wasn't Ratiasu. The new voice was cold, cruel and evil unlike the original Ratiasu who was kind, warm and gentle. 'Who are you, what have you done with Ratiasu and what do you want here?' asked Toshiro in a interrogation manner.

'You ask a lot of questions little boy, and you know what? I can't be arsed answering them. But I will tell you I came here to destroy soul society, so if you get in my way then I'm going to have to cut you down.' Ratiasu poised herself again.

'Don't call me a little boy, I'm far stronger than you think,' warned Toshiro as his spiritual energy surrounded him. 'If you're aiming to destroy soul society then I have no choice but to get in your way. As a captain of the gotei thirteen it is my duty to protect soul society. I'll give you a chance now, turn away, give us back our Ratiasu and nobody gets hurt.'

'Don't make me laugh, Ratiasu is gone, she was too weak and now that she's mine I'm not going to give her back. You're the only that's going to get hurt so don't talk so big, it makes you seem weak,' said Ratiasu with a calm insulting undertone.

'I've heard enough. You're going to wish you never crossed swords with me. BANKAI.'


	38. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36 – Defeated again and again**

'Daiguren Hyorinmaru.' Toshiro's ice bankai sparkled in the sunlight.

'Is that supposed to scare me?' Ratiasu smirked.

'It will.' Toshiro flew at Ratiasu, sword in front. Ratiasu flew higher in the skies to dodge, Toshiro gave chase and stayed behind her.

'You're a fool.' She flash stepped to gain some distance from Toshiro, turned round in the air and rapid fired a variety of kido attacks downwards. Toshiro swerved in mid-air to dodge the attacks but all the while still flying up.

'Hado fifty four, abolishing flames,' she shouted aiming this one perfectly into Toshiro as he ascended upwards. It hit him directly and he was forced back a few metres by the impact of the blast. With her hand still aimed she readied another kido attack, 'Wave of destruction, number two: Blaze Hellfire Blast.' A vermillion wire of fire, shot at Toshiro not giving him a chance to recover. The attack hit and yet again raised a dust cloud.

Ratiasu turned to leave thinking that she had a direct hit. The dust cleared slowly and revealed that Toshiro had hid behind his two wings and now he charged and took this chance when Ratiasu wasn't paying attention to strike her down.

'NEVER turn your back on an opponent.' He raised his blade, the guard of it turned. 'Thousand years ice prison.'

Ratiasu watched in shock as huge pillars of ice materialized from the air and completely surrounded her. Toshiro twisted his sword and the pillars at once gathered in the centre smashing into and trapping Ratiasu.

'You bastard,' she shouted just before the ice pillars all enveloped her. Toshiro breathed a sigh of relief.

'You're finished, give it up.' Toshiro's sword was still raised and pointing at the mass of ice. 'I'll give you another chance, give us back Ratiasu and nobody gets hurt.' There was no movement in the ice, complete silent hung in the air, an eerie silence. 'Not going to answer? Fine, die.' The ice shined white and then Ratiasu laughed.

'Do you really expect to kill me? As I've said before, you're a fool.' The ice's glow faded and shattered into pieces, Toshiro glimpsed Ratiasu for a second, she was completely unharmed, before she flash stepped behind Toshiro who was in a state of shock and didn't expect an attack. She punctured a large hole in Toshiro's back with a close ranged 'Hado Number fifty four, abolishing flames.' Blood streamed out of the wound in large quantities onto the ground. 'I repeat, you're a fool.' She spun round and kicked Toshiro down into the ground. Toshiro was already unconscious, a pool of blood spread out from underneath him. 'I think you might be just a little dead,' laughed Ratiasu. 'But just to be on the same side…' She pointed her sword at Toshiro, energy gathered on the tip of the sword and blasted out a ray of energy a second later.

The ray hit something and exploded on impact sending huge shockwaves of spiritual energy disintegrating the buildings nearby.

'Who is it this time?' asked Ratiasu getting a bit fed up.

'Just me.' Raven shot a bladed kido from his scythe. She didn't move an inch, the attack didn't reach her it crashed into the barrier in front of her and did nothing.

'Is that all you have? Rather pitiful if you ask me.'

'Yes, that was rather poor by my standards. Why don't we go all out then? BANKAI.' Raven's scythe grew in size, five feathers appeared on the lower part of the handle and the sky darkened.

'Oh? That bankai of yours is quite interesting indeed. Let's see how it does in combat them,' Ratiasu readied herself for the third time.

'All those who disturb the peace in soul society will be cut down. You are no exception, so prepare yourself, I won't show any mercy.' Raven swung him scythe again shooting a bladed kido at Ratiasu.

'You're wasting my time.' Ratiasu parried and counter attacked.

At the same time, Rangiku has snuck out of squad four and was witnessing the fight, quickly grabbed Toshiro and flash stepped off to squad four.

Meanwhile in squad four headquarters Kenpachi had just woken up after being healed by Unohana and has explained to everyone what had happened, excluding Hikari who was looking after an asleep Haodong. Ketu and Haruka hid outside the door when Kenpachi was explaining so the other captains didn't know they heard the whole story.

'What do you think we should do brother? Ratiasu's my vice-captain, maybe I should go and talk to her. Maybe that'll snap her out of being controlled,' Rukia asked Byakuya.

'There is no need for talk, if it's like what Kenpachi has said then Ratiasu has no hope of coming back, we should eliminate her, she's already caused too much trouble,' said Byakuya curtly.

Outside both Haruka and Ketu's eyes widened with horror at those words, it was all Ketu could do to prevent himself from barging in there and killing Byakuya for saying such foul words.

'No, that wouldn't be wise. I think we should give Ratiasu a chance to get herself back. I believe she can do it, she is a strong girl. I wouldn't have survived without her,' said Shunsui with Crystal by his side nodding to show that she agrees.

'If she is strong enough to beat Kenpachi without getting so much as a scratch then she is to much of a threat to leave unattended. Actually I wonder why we are all still sitting here, we should have moved out ages ago,' said Soifon.

Just then loud footsteps approached the room, Ketu and Haruka hid away and watched from a distance. Rangiku was screaming 'help' carrying a bloodied Toshiro in her arms as she stormed into the room.

'Help, please help. My captain just lost against Ratiasu, his chest was punctured, he's lost a lot of blood, please save him,' panted Rangiku collapsing from tiredness after lying Toshiro on the ground.

Unohana started treating Toshiro immediately, 'he has lost much blood. It'll be difficult, but I think he may just make it. Any more blood lost and he would've died for sure.' She worked quickly and stopped the blood flow, 'Isane, take Rangiku to the wards, I think she needs some rest from the shock she's been through.'

'Yes, captain.' Isane picked Rangiku up and left with her.

'That girl is dangerous, we must kill her. Two captains have already fallen to her blade, we can't risk anymore captains. We need to all attack her at once.'

'Speaking of captains, where's Captain Ruhodesu? Shouldn't he have return with Toshiro?' asked Renji.

'Oh no, Raven,' exclaimed Crystal and she ran off immediately.

'Crystal come back, you haven't recovered yet, don't be an idiot. Rest up I'm sure Raven's fine, just leave him,' shouted Shunsui running after Crystal.

'Like brother, like sister, even if they are only cousins. They're both gonna get killed,' said Renji. He stood up and was about to go after them, but Byakuya put his hand out to stop him.

'Leave them, if they want to die then they can go, we don't need to sacrifice any more people. But if you want to go then we should all go at once,' said Byakuya.

'How can you be so insensitive captain. They're both like to die out there, I'm going and you can't stop me.' Renji moved Byakuya;s hand out of the way and marched out the door.

'Renji you idiot,' cursed Byakuya under his breath.

'Let him go, we need to plan out our attack, now that we've lost a few numbers this'll become harder,' said Soifon.

'What's to plan? We just go in kill her and it's done,' said Iba.

'I cannot agree to this, I'm going after them,' interrupted Rukia and she also stormed out of the room.

'Why is everyone an idiot today,' said Byakuya who made no attempt to stop her from going. The remaining captains and vice-captains discussed the best way to attack Ratiasu, to take her by surprise.

'Ketu? Are you alright?' asked Haruka nervously. Ketu's fists were clenched tightly, sweat was dripping from his head.

'Let's go, we need to get to her before they do. If Terri's being controlled then I'll break her out of it. If she needs to be executed then I'll be the one doing the executing,' he said forcefully as he flash stepped out and followed the spiritual energy from Ratiasu.

'Yeah, I'm right behind ya.' Haruka followed.

The battle between Raven and Ratiasu was over pretty quickly. Ratiasu received only a cut on the shoulder whilst Raven got completely battered.

'Why? Why must I always lose? WHY?' screamed Raven as he knelt on the ground swimming in his own blood.

'Why? Because you're weak,' smirked Ratiasu still in the air looking high and mighty.

'Why you-' Raven didn't finished, he grabbed his chest as he said the words and his mind went blank.

'Another one? My, my how many of you weaklings do I have to kill before you can take a hint?' shrugged Ratiasu. She held her hand up and stopped Zabimaru's shikai without moving an inch. 'Just another insect I must crush eh?'

Renji appeared behind her and pulled Zabimaru back. 'Ha, so I see, it is you, Ratiasu.'

'Your point is? So what if it's me?'

'Oh nothing really. I'm just here to get back the real Ratiasu.'

'Ha, that white haired kid already tried and failed. What makes you think you're better than him?' asked Ratiasu sounding as if she really couldn't careless anyway.

'I doubt I'm stronger than captain Hitsugaya, but Ratiasu was a good comrade to me. So even if it kills me I'll still free her from you.'

'Friendship is useless, but if you think you can beat me, then try. I'll have some more fun killing you.'

'I don't think so, BANKAI.' The snake like segmented bankai of Renji's formed coiled around him. 'Hihio Zabimaru.'

'But I do.' Ratiasu had already flash stepped right in front of Renji with her hand out, 'hado thirty three, pale fire crash.'

Renji's eyes widened, 'crap.' Another explosion, Ratiasu jumped out of it unharmed but Renji received a direct hit and is still there. Another annoying dust cloud hung there surrounding Renji his fate unknown. A few seconds past and there was some muffled sounds from where Renji stood. 'That's not going to finish me dammit,' he groaned trying to stand.

'And there's another bloody mess to add to the pile,' said Ratiasu smiling. Renji could barely stand up, he stumbled a few times getting up, but still unable to find his balance. Ratiasu walked up to him slowly, 'what was that before? You'll free the old Ratiasu from me? Did you really think such a weakling like you could do such a thing. You're too slow and pathetic, you didn't even get a chance to attack. Oh well, better luck next time, but unfortunately for you, there isn't one.' She thrusted his sword into his chest and pulled it out just as fast. Blood splattered onto the floor in front of him and he collapsed forwards. His bankai disappeared and reverted back to his normal sword. Ratiasu turned and walked away.

'RENJI.' A scream came from behind her. Rukia had rushed next to Renji and was holding him in her arms. 'Why Renji? Why? Don't die on me now' she said repeated clutching Renji in her arms.

'Aww, how sweet,' expressed Ratiasu.

'How could you do such a thing Terri? Why? Why did you do it?'

'The old Ratiasu is long gone so don't talk to me as if I'm her. I'm only here because I'm the opposite of the old Ratiasu, meaning I will destroy everything she ever liked.'

Rukia wasn't listening, she was still holding Renji, tears dripped continuously from her eyes.

'Aww I think I'm going to make me cry. Actually, I think I'm going to DESTROY YOU.' Ratiasu charged sword held her, Rukia wasn't even looking and she didn't even make an attempt to stop the attack. Just before the attack hit, which would've probably killed Rukia, someone flash stepped in the way and blocked the attack with ease just in the nick of time. Ratiasu backed off and in front of her stood Haruka.


	39. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**** – Farewell, but not goodbye**

'Get Renji to safety Rukia, let me and Ketu handle this,' said Haruka as Ketu just showed up next to her.

Rukia nodded, heaved Renji onto her shoulders and ran off in squad four's direction.

'Well this is an unexpected surprise, I didn't think you two could revive yourself after taking the eyes so fast. Ah well, I suppose if I wanted to take out soul society I had to face you two eventually. But if I take you two down now, then that means there'll be no one that stands in my way,' said Ratiasu in a thinking pose.

'Cut the small talk, what have you done with Terri?' asked Haruka menacingly pointing her sword at her.

'Terri? Ah yes, the old Ratiasu. Let's just say, that girl was too weak and she couldn't control me, so instead I controlled her.'

'What!? Oh no.' Haruka's eye widened with horror as she realized what was meant.

'What do you mean oh no? What's happened?' demanded Ketu urgently.

Haruka explained to him what had happened with her 'eye' and said that it's probably what had happened to Ratiasu. The eye was too strong for her to bear so she was taken over by the power of the eye. Thought Ketu argued that, that wasn't what happened to him.

'I'm guessing you got lucky then. It's not like I know how this eye works. But all I know is that the eye is in control of Terri and we need to break her out of it,' said Haruka.

'Any ideas how?' asked Ketu looking worried and nervous.

'No clue. Maybe if we defeat her she'll give Terri up,' suggest Haruka.

'Ha, that's laughable, even if you defeat me I'll still be in control. The only way you can free Ratiasu is by killing me. But then your precious Terri will also die with me, so think carefully about what you plan to do,' laughed Ratiasu.

'Sorry Ket, but it looks like we have no choice. We'll have to kill her,' declared Haruka getting ready to attack.

'No wait, there must be another way. You can't possibly expect me to kill her can you.'

Ratiasu laughed, 'there is no other way, if you can't face the fact of killing your dear Terri then I guess you're just worthless and I should finish you off right now.'

'No, it can't be. I can't help Terri at all? Argh,' he screamed, dropped to his knees and punched the ground.

'You're pathetic. You don't deserve to live.' Ratiasu flash stepped behind him and stabbed at his back.

Haruka intercepted the attack, 'he won't die, not as long as I'm here.'

'Fine, I'll enjoy fighting someone who's just as powerful then,' said Ratiasu jumping back to gain some distance from Haruka.

'I'm not just as powerful.' Haruka's spiritual pressure glowed brightly around her, 'I'm more powerful. Brighten the darkness, Hidoragon.' Her blade's handle grew longer five centimetres and become thinner, turned red. Blade extended by ten centimetres, also thinner and turned red. 'Shiraenkouya.' Spirit particles gathered in front of the sword and fired out in a concentrated beam.

'Oh? Let's match fire with fire, shall we?' She held up her hand, 'Wave of destruction number one, white thunder.' Both attacks hit in the middle with a huge explosion that was strong enough to blow away any buildings or rubble clearing the field for a fight. The explosion brought up a cloud of smoke, but it was cleared away instantly when both Haruka and Ratiasu clashed swords in the middle and another wave of spiritual pressure was released. 'You're quite strong aren't you? Even without bankai you can match my attack.' Ratiasu looked to be a bit struggling with holding the deadlock, but then again so did Haruka.

'I see you're not one to underestimate people,' said Haruka. They both pushed apart from the deadlock and jumped backwards.

'I don't underestimate anyone, especially not someone who has achieved Dorakai. But even if you have Dorakai I'm still unbeatable.'

'Is that how you judged my power? Only because I have Dorakai, you think I'm strong? Well then, that is underestimating, because I was already powerful before I obtained Dorakai, that's why I don't need to use bankai and I can still give you a good match. This power can be a nuisance at times though,' she said quite frankly.

'Tell me something, you have power, yet you don't use it. If that's true then what is your reason for this fight?' asked Ratiasu

'If it helps save my friends then I'll fight, this power has separated me away from other soul reapers, everyone is afraid of me. But these people didn't care for what I was and became my friends anyway. As long as I have these friends I will keep fighting if not for myself, for them.'

'Touching speech, too bad one of your friends is a bit of an idiot. I mean look at him, he's pathetic, whining on the ground like a dog.' There was a flash as Ratiasu hastily blocked an attack from Haruka.

'Don't you dare insult my friend like that, otherwise I'll make you regret ever being alive.'

Ratiasu was having a hard time holding Haruka back. With the anger she had her strength went up. 'My, my, aren't you a bit sensitive.'

'Shut up you bitch,' Haruka said furiously pushing Ratiasu in the opposite direction.

'You know, I really do hate getting insulted,' said Ratiasu calmly. Her wings spread out to pull length and blasted a wave of concentrated spiritual pressure at Haruka. She broke of the deadlock and jumped back. 'I'll show you the true power of both eyes.' She beated those huge wings of hers and flew up into the sky.

'Oh wow you can fly, I'm so impressed,' said Haruka sarcastically.

'You imbecile.' She blasted down wave after wave of non stop kido attacks.

'What the?' thought Haruka as she moved swiftly between attacks and dodged any and all that came to her.

A veil of smoke raise from the attacks, Haruka took a chance and jumped high up into the air. One glimpse and she air her attacks with perfect accuracy at Ratiasu. Ratiasu saw the threat, redirected her attacks and sent them to intercept Haruka's kido. Both attacks crash with such ferocity that even Haruka had to brace herself so she didn't get blown away. Ratiasu jumped out from the smoke from the explosion and slashed down at Haruka. Haruka raised her sword and block, but was driven downwards into the ground by the force of Ratiasu's attack. Haruka used her other hand and aimed a close ranged kido attack into Ratiasu. Ratiasu somehow saw it coming and flash stepped away the moment the kido attack fired. Haruka flash stepped after her to give chase, and launched a barrage of hacks and slashes at lightning speed. Ratiasu, who was always known for her speed was able to block each attack with excellent timing. After seeing her attacks fail, Haruka backed off and tried a different approach.

She fired a kido attack directly at Ratiasu then instantly flash stepped around to her back and slashed. Ratiasu didn't even try to block, she flash stepped the instant the kido was fired. She appeared behind Haruka and attacked. Haruka reacted instinctively, turned round and blocked.

'Come on, is this all you've got? If you're not going to show me your Dorakai at least show me your bankai,' taunted Ratiasu, pushing Haruka downwards.

'I don't need it to beat a half-wit,' teased Haruka.

'You've sure got a way with words haven't you?' said Ratiasu as she sent Haruka crashing into the ground with a kick and fired a concentrated beam of kido at her. As soon as the attack came into contact with the ground, a huge crater was created and bits of the ground around the target area melted away effortlessly.

When the path was clear, Haruka was no where in sight. A volley of spears suddenly rained from the sky. Ratiasu turned and enveloped herself with her wings, they acted as a very strong shield and any spear that came in contact with the wings would either break or bounce off. But the spears that do make contact also scratch the wings which hurt Ratiasu. Haruka appeared above Ratiasu with no damage from that kido attack before.

'So you finally use bankai,' said Ratiasu looking a bit weary.

'Well yeah, I was thinking why bother prolonging this when it should've been over half an hour ago,' said Haruka in a frank tone.

'You sure do talk big.'

'I only speak the truth,' said Haruka honestly

Haruka attacked again with the rain of spears. Ratiasu was prepared this time and blasted them all out of the sky with a huge kido move that looked as if it tired her out a bit.

'You really shouldn't use kido moves you can't handle. It could be the last mistake you'll make.' Haruka charged down swiftly and quickly, and attacked with full force. Ratiasu was just able to hold her sword up to block. Both blades clashed together causing another explosion on contact. Haruka back flipped out of the explosion as the dust from the ground spread out into a huge mist. Haruka breathed heavily as she landed, but was relieved when nothing came out of the mist.

'I think this fight's finally over,' she thought. The mist slowly moved away, but surprisingly Ratiasu was still standing, thought body was covered in blood, bruises and cuts, she still stands.

'This… isn't… over… yet…' she panted, stumbling forwards at Haruka.

'Give it up you're beaten, I could kill you now with one more attack. But I do not want to lose a friend. So, I'll make you an offer, get out of Terri and I won't kill you. Stay there and… I'll have no choice but to eliminate you.'

'Eliminate me? You think too highly of yourself, I've told you before, no one can defeat me. I AM UNBEATABLE,' she screamed, her sword flashed five times with a green glow. Then a weird gas like substance flowed out from the sword and engulfed her. Her wounds were being healed, quite quickly as well. Her cuts closed, the blood disappeared and the bruises vanished. 'This is the true power of my sword. I'm sure you're aware of Ratiasu's healing abilities?'

'I am very aware of her extraordinary healing abilities,' agreed Haruka.

'Yes, and that is why if you don't kill me. I'll always be able to recover. And you won't kill me, I know you don't have the heart to kill me. And I also know that Ketu there won't kill me either,' she said glancing over at Ketu, who was still with his head towards the ground. 'No one can kill me, no one.'

'I beg to disagree,' Byakuya came walking out of no where, put his sword vertically in front of him. 'Scatter, Senbonzakura.'

But, just before the blades had a chance to break apart Ketu stepped in and stopped Byakuya's sword.

'What is the meaning of this?' asked Byakuya looking astonished.

'If Terri needs to die, then it'll only be by my hands, got it?' Ketu said with a low and evil sounding voice.

'We don't have time to play around, Captain Zakura. She is a threat to soul society, we must end her life now.'

'Give me fifteen minutes. If I'm not able to kill her, then you can do as you wish, just kill me as well,' said Ketu with the same voice and a little difficulty with saying the word 'kill'.

'No Ket, what are you saying,' yelled Haruka running over to him. 'You can't die, I can't lose you too.'

Ketu smiled, 'without Terri, I can't live at all. She was my happiness, my sorrow, my reason for being alive. If she's gone, then my will to live will go with it. I will kill her, then I will kill myself.'

Haruka grabbed Ketu around the waist and hugged him, 'no you can't, I don't want to lose anymore friends. Please don't do this, I'll have no friends if you go.' Haruka was crying, the first time in ages. She had saddest face and it's not like her to be sad.

Ketu tried to ignore Haruka and carry on, 'Byakuya, do I have your word that if I don't succeed in killing her you will kill me and her?'

'That's a promise I can make,' said Byakuya with his eyes closed.

'Good.' Ketu wrenched himself free from Haruka, 'tell Kari I said goodbye. I'm sorry Rika. Please don't cry. Remember, even if I do die, I will be with you in spirit.' Ketu ran off towards Ratiasu.

'NOOOO, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS,' screamed Haruka running to catch up with Ketu but was tripped by a piece of rock. 'No, please don't,' she whispered and blacked out.

'A new opponent I see, good good, I was getting bored with that Haruka girl,' taunted Ratiasu.

An evil black aura appeared around Ketu, his voice was still low and sounded disturbing, 'You took control of the one person I loved, you ruined her future, you ruined my life. You took everything away from me, and now I'm going to take everything away from you. I will free Terri from you, and we'll both die together like we promised that day.' Ketu looked ferocious, like a panther chasing after its prey.

'You're sure looking spooky today, what's got you so worked up?' said Ratiasu, not expecting an answer.

'This is something I perfected when I was training with Terri, she made me promise that I only use it to save someone dear to me for it will most certainly end my life when the time is up. And now, this is as good time as any.'

'What are you rambling on about now eh?' asked Ratiasu.

Ketu didn't reply, he didn't even look at her. He took out his sword and snapped the blade part in two. Inside the part that's connect to the guard he took out a long thin needle about as long as a ball-point pen. 'This is for you, my love,' he whispered and stabbed himself in the middle of his heart with the needle.

His eyes turned vermillion and his haired turned silver just like Ratiasu's. There was a huge increase in his spiritual pressure. His enormous spiritual pressure surrounded him in the shape of a dragon, but not Kazedoragon, it was a black dragon with red eyes and looked menacing. A new blade was in his hand, with a dragon's head for a guard and a long red blade.

'Is that suppose to scare me?' teased Ratiasu though her voice sounded unsure and drops of sweat trickled down from her forehead.

Ketu didn't reply. He charged, moved with the speed of a panther at Ratiasu, sword outstretched.

'I WILL NOT BE BEATEN,' screamed Ratiasu as her spiritual pressure shot out everywhere around her in the form of sharp blades. Ketu charged like a berserker, the blades was literally ripping his body apart, cuts appeared everywhere on him. He was completely covered with blood and sustained heavy injuries where the flesh part of his left arm has been cleanly ripped away showing the blood vessels and muscles below. A few of the blades pierced straight threw him, but still he did not stop. 'THIS CANNOT BE.'

A moment later, Ketu was within striking distance he aimed true and well. His red blade pierced straight through Ratiasu's heart. The expression of shock and horror stayed on her face as she collapsed backwards and moved no more.

Ketu regained himself and dropped to his knees. He crawled next to Ratiasu and shut her eyes. He held Ratiasu's still warm hands in his. 'I'm sorry it had to end like this. I wished we could've had more time. There were so many things I wanted to do with you. You many places we haven't visited, so many things I wanted to say. Oh well, at least we died together like we promised.' Ketu clutched his chest, the needle was taking effect and slowly all the blood in his body would stop flowing. 'At least we'll be meeting up somewhere else.' He closed his eyes as well.

Flashback _Their first meeting as kids. When they both graduated, smiling. Their first mission together. Their first embrace. When they both left seireitei and went to the human world. Their romantic holiday in Venice, their first kiss._

Ketu smiled, 'This is farewell. But not goodbye.' He fell forwards right next to Ratiasu, and everything went blank.

**End of part 3**

And we come to an end of another part. Part 4 starts next week and although i'll admit part 3 wasn't exactly great, i hope you enjoyed it anyway, the major action is on its way


	40. Chapter 38

**Part 4 – The Angels' Final Fall**

**Chapter 38 – Heading off once more**

Ratiasu's sword shone brightly on the ground. It slowly rose up into the air above both of them and formed a dome of green light that surrounded Ratiasu and Ketu. Everything that was in the dome was repairing itself, the blood disappeared and Ketu's and Ratiasu's wounds healed rapidly. Soon both of them look completely normal like nothing had happened, the sword's glow faded and so did the dome. The sword slowly descended back to the ground and dropped next to Ratiasu.

The sunlight filled Ketu's room with sunlight strong enough to wake him up. He jumped up and uttered one word, 'Terri.'

'Don't worry, she's fine,' said Hikari next to him. Ketu looked in front of him and saw that Terri was sound asleep in the other bed. Ketu let out a sigh of relief and lay back down.

At that moment Haruka came in, saw that Ketu was awake and a second later she had jumped on him and embraced him. 'Oh god Ket. I thought you wouldn't make it, I thought you'd die,' she said with tears forming in her eyes. 'I'm so glad you're okay.'

'Yeah, you know, I was actually ready to die. Good thing my time hasn't come yet and I'm able to see Terri's sleeping face again and of course your smiling face as well,' he added as he looked down at Haruka who forced a smile on her teary face.

'What happened to us anyway?' asked Ketu still pondering about his miraculous recovery.

'I have no clue, but I did go and see Ukitake about it and this is his theory. He thinks that when your blade filled with benevolence and your feelings for her was somehow able to give Terri's soul enough energy to seal her Dorakai's powers. And also now that's it is sealed she should be able to perform Dorakai with no problem which I'm glad to say is good news for our side,' explained Hikari happily.

'Okay that explains why she's not going mental on us now, but what about our injuries? I striked her through the heart and I used that needle which should have killed me.'

'That is something that still remains a mystery. I mean sure we know that Terri's bankai can heal her when it goes back to normal, but for one thing she wasn't even using her bankai seeing as it wasn't actually her. And for another she healed not just herself but you as well, and also both of you had unhealable wounds. All I can say is that I'm absolutely astonished at Terri's healing abilities.' Ketu nodded to show he understood. Haruka had also stayed quiet throughout the conversation. 'I could take a wild guess and say it was the power of love that did it, but that's probably just complete nonsense.'

'Hey you never know, why not the power of love? Love is a strong force,' added Haruka who had stopped crying and looked happy again.

'Who knows, anyway I'm more worried if you two are okay to move straight on to another mission. A dangerous mission in which we probably will have to face Usaitar,' said Hikari.

'They've found him?' asked Ratiasu suddenly making them all jump.

Ketu got out of his bed instantly and hugged Ratiasu. 'Terri, I've missed you,' he whispered to her ears.'

'Same here Ket, I'm actually glad it was you who was the one to do the last attack. I wouldn't have had it any other way.' They looked at each other eye to eye, 'if anyone was to kill me when I'm on a murderous rampage, it had to be you, I wouldn't want anyone else to. Thank you Ket for saving me,' she said smiling happily at him.

'I should be thanking you, after all your sword saved my life in the end.'

'To do something as to stab yourself with that needle for me, I'm truly happy. I'm sure lucky to have you by my side.'

'Same to you, I'm glad that we weren't separated.'

'Oh Ket, I love you,' she said grasping Ketu's hand with hers.

'I love you too,' he replied to her, and a second alter they had their arms around each other and kissing each other. It was such a happy moment for the couple,

'Awww, I heard a saying that goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Looking at these two I'd say it's quite true,' said Haruka with a light-hearted voice.

'Yeah,' replied Hikari but her mind seems to have wondered off somewhere as if thinking about something or someone…

A minute or two later and they were still at it, 'you know if we don't stop those two enjoying themselves they might end up doing something unnecessary in front of us,' said Haruka to Hikari.

'You have a sick mind but a good point,' said Hikari. 'Ahem, er you two it's about time you finished up your reunion we've got work to do.'

Ratiasu and Ket broke apart, 'sorry guess we got a bit carried away,' said Ketu completely red in the face obviously extremely embarrassed.

Ratiasu was red as well, she looked away with a smile on her face.

'Anyway as I was saying before central forty-six has issued commands to bring down Usaitar. So yes Terri we do know where he is. Apparently a scouting unit was sent, but was destroyed killed off by him before they were able to send back any details. Though they did send back the co-ordinates of the place in Hueco Mundo and apparently there's some sort of large building there. So now we are able to track Usaitar's movements as we had locked on to his spiritual pressure from where our scouting unit was destroyed and it seems that he hasn't moved yet. So central forty-six wants a few soul reapers to head into Hueco Mundo to lead off the assault against Usaitar and all the captains follow on afterwards,' explained Hikari. 'Oh and these soul reapers can be anyone.'

'So, who have they chosen to go in first?' asked Ketu putting on his kimono.

'Oh no, it doesn't work like that this time, they aren't going to pick who goes in, because they know that people will probably refuse, so they set up a volunteer system. Whoever feels that they can handle Usaitar and his five arrancars can go in as the primary assault.'

Ketu laughed, 'that's never going to work, who in their right minds would risk their lives as a primary assault, it's just idiocy.'

'Who you ask? Well for starters me and Haruka.'

Ketu stopped laughing, 'You two signed up? Why?'

'I wasn't able to get in on the action before so I'm going to make up for it now, oh and Haodong's coming along with me as well.'

'You mean that squad four guy who you seem to like so much?' asked Ketu suspiciously.

Hikari turned away blushing, 'don't speak nonsense I've never said I liked him,' said Hikari nervously.

'Sure, sure, of course,' said Ketu sarcastically. 'Anyway why are you going Rika?'

'I want to get rid of him so no more people get hurt.'

'Guess we really don't have much of a choice, you coming Terri?' asked Ketu looking over at Ratiasu.

'Yeah, if everyone else is going, then don't forget about me.'

'You sure about this? I mean you two only just recovered, are you sure you want to head into battle straight away,' asked Hikari.

'Oh yeah, I'm as ready as anyone to end this here and now, Usaitar was the cause of everything that's happened, and he's going to be the end of it.'

Ratiasu put her arms around Ketu's neck and kissed him on the cheek, 'well said Ket, I'm with you all the way.'

'That means a lot to me, thanks,' they stared at each other with affectionate eyes.

'Alright alright break it up, we leave first thing tomorrow morning so there's no time for all this mushy stuff, get prepared and get ready. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us,' warned Hikari. It was still quite light outside looks to be about mid-afternoon.

'Well looks like we need to go and prepare as well, I'll come by here in the morning to pick you two up so don't worry about directions,' said Haruka. Ratiasu and Ketu both nodded. 'See ya in the morning.' And Haruka leaves.

Hikari walks to the door then turns round, 'Just out of interest, why do you have two beds in your room Ket? It's only you who sleeps here, _right_?' she asked with a suspicious voice.

'Ah well, you see I like to have two beds in case I get tired of one bed so I can change,' said Ketu with an uncertain tone.

'Uh huh sure, whatever you say. Well do anything too strenuous you two, after all you both did just recover. And don't get up to any funny or unnecessary stuff,' Hikari added.

'Of course,' said Ketu.

'Good, good. See ya in the morning,' she said and she flash stepped away.

'At last, some peace and quiet,' said Ketu with a relieved voice.

'Can we go for a walk?' requested Ratiasu, 'It's been a while since I've had a good peaceful walk with you Ket.'

'Sure, anything for you my love,' he said. He walked over to the door 'You get changed, I'll wait outside.' She nodded in agreement.

For the rest of the day the two of them walked around the hillsides of seireitei, exploring the vast land all the while having a heart to heart chat with each other hand in hand. It was night when they finally returned, the moon and star have already come out. They sat on the roof of Ketu's house watching them in their everlasting beauty. The clear skies made the stars seem prettier than ever glistening in the night sky. The sat there side by side enjoying their view for they know that it'll be a very long time before they are able to see it again.

'Do you remember the night when Usaitar first invaded seireitei? That was the last time we were together like this,' asked Ketu.

'How could I forget? It was then when everything started, I'm just glad we're both still in one piece.'

'Yeah, and I'll make sure it stays this way. I vowed ages ago to put your safety above my own, and I will never break that vow,' assured Ketu.

'Thank you,' whispered Ratiasu as she kissed him again.

'Hopefully today we can get an uninterrupted night.' They sat for ages, listening to the sounds of the night staying silent. Ratiasu leaned her head on Ketu's shoulders and eventually fell asleep. So Ketu decided it was time to call it a day and went back to his room.

'Hey wakey wakey, it's time to go,' said Haruka loudly shaking Ketu. He jumped out of bed so suddenly that it startled Haruka.

'Oh yeah, it's time to get started,' he said trying to put on a muscular man type of accent. An already awoke Ratiasu giggled at that.

They got dressed grabbed their swords and followed Haruka.

'Where exactly are we headed?' asked Ketu as he followed Haruka outside of seireitei.

'To the hills away from everything else where Shunsui will open a garganta for us, the gateway to hueco mundo.'

'Ah right.'

They arrived at a very remote and isolated hilltop where many people have gathered.

'My my, I had never anticipated there to be such a big crowd,' said Shunsui. 'Let's see here, we have Captains Zakura, Uera, Ruhodesu and Kyoraku, Crystal not me. Vice-captains, Ratiasu and Ruhodesu. Some ranked officers, Colin, Craig, Haodong and Lewis and lastly Haruka. Eleven in total, quite a big group I must say. I doubt anyone expected four captains to turn up. Oh well, this was completely voluntary so guess all I can say is, good luck.'

Ketu went over to the ranked officers, 'hey nice to meet you, I'm Captain Ketu Zakura,' he said holding out a hand. Craig, Haodong and Lewis shook it in turn and said their greetings whilst Colin just stood there with a bored face. 'So, just out of curiosity why did you four decide to come?'

'Careful there, they say curiosity killed the cat, it may kill you as well,' said Colin coolly and he walked away.

'Don't mind him, he's just annoyed cos we dragged him along,' laughed Haodong. 'I came because Kari asked me to and also I've got a score to settle with two arrancars.'

'A score to settle?' said Ketu with a blank face.

'Yeah, to put it simply two arrancars killed two of our friends, and so we're just going to go and settle it,' explained Lewis.

'Ah, well good luck with that, and remember if you need any help I'll be there so will the other captains so just ask,' said Ketu smiling at them.

'Thanks,' said Craig.

'Soooo. We all prepared to go and kick some ass?' asked Haruka joining in on the conversations.

'You bet, I'll give those arrancar what's coming to them,' stated Ketu with confidence.

Hikari walked over to them, 'Alright people, it's time to get going preparations are complete and Shunsui's about to open the garganta.'

The five separated and went back to their friends. 'Hey Kari, who came up with this volunteer idea in the first place?' asked Ratiasu.

'I did,' confirmed Hikari, 'I thought that this way there won't be any unnecessary bloodshed, only those who are prepared for the dangers and who want to go will. No one who doesn't want to go needs to and also there won't be any lives thrown away because we are all fighting for something or another. And also it gives weaker soul reapers such as ranked ones to join in on the fighting because usually they wouldn't be sent out on the frontline, so you know let them in on some real action.'

'I can't say I completely agree with you but I can see where you're coming from, and I guess it is good to give people freedom of choice so you don't force anyone,' said Ratiasu.

'Yeah exactly.'

There was a wave of spiritual energy from Shunsui and a huge black hole tore up the skies.

'When you get in build a spirit particle path and just keep running forwards, you will arrive in a very remote area but Usaitar might've already expected our assault so he may have set up an ambush, be prepared to fight as soon as you step into hueco mundo. The destination of Usaitar has been programmed into each of your mobiles so you won't get lost unless you lose them. If you happen to run into some strong foe all alone and are unable to win then send a distress signal using your spiritual energy, we have our radars on each of you so reinforcements will arrive shortly. Also when you've engaged Usaitar and his arrancars in combat send a signal as well and reinforcements will take over the attack and finish them off. Good luck and don't die,' said Shunsui as he stepped out of the way.

Everyone moved swiftly and ran into the garganta. Each person followed their own spirit particle passage and all arrived at the other side at the same time. The emerged out onto the desert environment of Hueco Mundo in its vast nothingness.

They were about to continue forwards but two arrancars walked up to them and blocked their way, one of them was unknown but the other…

'Hello again, guess you didn't expect me back so soon, or rather you didn't expect to me be still be alive' said Arrancar Matthew Richardson with a evil grin on his face.

**Part 4 now, getting finished pretty soon**


	41. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39 – Are you a Joke?**

'Matthew? How can this be? I killed you with my own two hands, I saw you fall off the cliff as well not even you should be able to survive that,' said Hikari, shocked to see that he was still alive.

'You looked but you didn't see,' said Matthew calmly. 'I did fall off, but I was rescued by a unknown person and now I'm back and fighting once again, this time I brought a 'friend' with me.' He looked over at Haodong, Craig, Colin and Lewis who all had astonished expressions on their faces. 'I'm sure you four knows who he is, isn't that right Sanders?'

'Yep,' said the other arrancar who took his mask off to reveal his real face. He had the hollow mask covering the left side of his face, but even so everyone recognized him as Daniel Sanders. 'It's been a while. Daniel Sanders arrancar ninety five, how wonderful it is to see all you again.'

'You know Sanders even if try and become evil you're still a girl to us,' laughed Lewis. 'We were all happy that you died Sanders, don't ruin it now. How did you come back anyway?'

'Cut long story short. Turned into arrancar after death and got dragged here by Richo,' he sighed.

'Ha ha, even when you've died you still get pushed around like a wuss,' said Craig mockingly.

Haodong's and Matthew's eyes met, 'so, we meet again,' said Haodong calmly with his hand on his sword.

'Yes… again,' replied Matthew putting his hand on his sword.

'Woah woah, what's with the hostility? We're all friends right? Relax, and let's all have a drink,' suggested Lewis stepping between them.

'You're starting to sound like my cousin,' said Crystal.

'Let's just say he influenced me a lot.'

'Er… can we cut the chit-chat to a minimum we need to get going,' said Ketu eyeing the arrancars suspiciously.

'Sure go ahead, I'm only here for those two,' said Matthew pointing at Haodong and Hikari.

'Hey wait, didn't Usaitar tell us to hinder all of them?' asked Daniel.

'Nobody cares about you Sanders so cut the crap and do as I say,' ordered Matthew.

'I can see get along very well,' said Craig sarcastically.

'Oh, yeah. As in life as in death,' confirmed Matthew.

'I'm bored, screw you all I'm going,' said Raven and he flash stepped forwards past Matthew and Sanders.

'Wait for us,' shouted Naomi and Crystal as they followed him.

'They're getting away, get 'em now,' shouted Daniel trying to run after them but Matthew grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.

'Shut up you duck, I'm in control here,' said Matthew throwing him into the ground.

Ketu, Ratiasu and Haruka watched in amusement. 'Come on, I think we should better be going as well. Don't bother with this Kari, let's just get going,' said Ketu.

''Sorry, but I need to finish the work I began, i.e. skewer Matthew up properly and make sure he doesn't get back up,' said Hikari.

Ketu shrugged, 'whatever, you do what you need, just catch up later.' Hikari nodded. Ratiasu, Haruka and Ketu followed Raven's lot and also flash stepped away.

'Now that it's just us old friends staying behind we can get started.'

'Yeah, you are gon-' started Daniel before Matthew kicked him in the side and he went flying off.

'Nobody asked you to talk you panda,' shouted Matthew. 'I do apologise, for the idiotic behavior of our 'friend' here. It seems even after he died he kept his stupidity.'

Lewis was rolling on the floor in laughter, Bentley was pointing and laughing. Haodong was still glaring at Matthew with a smile on his face.

'So? Shall we get started?' asked Matthew drawing his sword.

'Yay, we're finally going to get sta-' once again Daniel's speech was stopped by a kick in the side from Matthew.

'I didn't tell you to get up, now get up and let's go,' commanded Matthew.

'Woot woot, let's get ready to party.'

'Come on now, are you trying to piss me off?' asked Matthew rhetorically as he put his foot in Daniel's face. 'Move it, I've got a score to settle and I'm not having you get in the way.'

Daniel jumped up and drew his sword, 'time to release is it?'

Matthew stared at Daniel with a blank face, 'how the hell did you recover so fast duckman.'

'I recover cos I do. Also, watch this, then you won't call me a duck,' assured Daniel as he put his sword out in front of him. 'Extinguido, pájaro.' His spiritual energy surrounded him in a white light and a second later his release form came out. Everyone stared at him with shocked and confused expressions on their faces. 'How d'ya like me now.'

'Sanders, try looking in a mirror,' said Craig laughing his head off along with anyone else who was there except Colin who stood there looking bored with a scary face.

Matthew remained staring at Daniel with his mouth open and his face with a shocked expression. 'You're a dodo…' she said slowly as if confirming it himself.

'Well yeah, what did you expect?' said Daniel, his resureccion made him resemble a dodo because that's what he was. He had a mask with a big dodo style beak on his face feathers on his hands which resembled a wing and a small fluffy tail.

'Seriously, are you having a laugh? This has got to be a joke, you're an extinct bird that can't even fly.'

'To be fair Sanders I was expecting a duck,' joked Haodong.

'You're not a very nice person,' said Daniel.

'When was the last time I was nice to you, even when you were a soul reaper I still made fun of you. So that's not exactly to change now that you're an enemy, I should be more horrible if anything,' said Haodong.

'Why dodo? Of all the animals there is in the world you're a dodo?' said Matthew still not believing what he's seeing. 'Couldn't you have been something that was dangerous and or not extinct?'

'Well…' murmured Daniel as he was thinking of something to reply to that.

'That's it, I've lost interest, forget this, I can't fight with a weak extinct bird. I'm leaving, you can take care of him for me, I'm just going to quietly tiptoe away,' said Matthew as he quietly tiptoed away from Daniel.

'Hey wait you're not just going to leave me here are you?' asked Daniel with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

'Well duh, I can't be seen with _things_ like you, it doesn't fit with my image. Come Haodong, Hikari, we've got a score to settle. H and if you three don't kill Daniel I'm going to have to do it,' said Matthew and he vanished away with sonido.

'Let's go,' said Haodong to Hikari chasing after him.

'Well now Sanders, I believe it's time for you to die. Again,' said Colin looking homicidal as always.

Sanders put his hands in front of him waving, 'woah woah, hold on a second, can we rethink this?'

'Sorry, but you're getting to be a bore, and I don't have time for such nonsense.' Colin drew his sword, 'Smother, Kurosoeki.' The blade vanished into a black gas cloud and engulfed Daniel.

'Nice shot attack Colin, looks like it's the end of him, again rejoice,' said Lewis joylessly but Colin shot him a glare and he quietened down.

Daniel smirked and said in a serious tone, 'Colin, I'm sure that you know, that one of your weaknesses is, underestimating people.' Daniel vanished and appeared behind Colin a second later. Colin's eyes widened with shock. 'Cero,' he whispered into Colin's ear and a red beam of energy bashed into Colin and sent him flying into the sky. Daniel jumped up, 'Dodo's can't fly, but I make up for that with my jumping ability.' He pointed his palm at Colin who didn't have anytime to react. 'Cero.' And Colin was bashed into the ground by a point blanc ranged cero shot in his stomach. Colin lay motionless on the ground soaked in blood.

'Daniel you bastard, I knew from the moment that I saw you, that you're not someone to be trusted. We never should've known you. We were all happy when you died, and it's going to stay that way. Destroy, Kuroshingari,' shouted Lewis with an angry face he rarely puts on. He swung his anchors up in the air and aims one at Daniel. Daniel moves out of the way and attacks with incredible speed.

His sword clashes with Lewis's anchor, 'Dodo's may not be able to fly, but their speed wasn't that bad.'

'Shut up about Dodo's I couldn't give a damn,' shouted Lewis pushing Daniel off and chucking one of the anchors at him again. Daniel raised his sword to block but was pushed back by the momentum of the anchor. Lewis wheeled his anchor back ready for another throw, but he was a tad late, Daniel was already in front of him. Daniel raised his sword and slash down, Lewis had not time to react. Craig jumped in the way to block instead.

'Thx Craig,' said Lewis as he threw his anchor again.

'Hey, I gotta do something to help.'

Daniel suddenly appeared behind Craig, 'Wha? Die?' he said as he plunged his sword into Craig.

'Shit,' he cursed and lay on the ground with blood pouring out from his wound.

'Never knew killing Craig could be this easy,' laughed Daniel.

'You piece of shit. Die,' screamed Lewis as he aimed another anchor at him.

'Your aiming is very poor when you're angry,' said Daniel calmly as he leaned to the left slightly to avoid the anchor.

'Shut up bastard.' Lewis threw it again.

'It's a shame you never learnt any kido, maybe then you might've put some variety into your pitiful attacks.' Daniel parried an attack and Lewis was wide open, he used sonido and got up close. 'Good bye, old friend. Cero.' Another point blank ranged cero, it smashed into Lewis's chest. The cero engulfed everything around him and vanished. Lewis stood there with a terrified look on his face, a second later cuts burst open everywhere on his body, he collapsed onto the floor onto a pool of blood.

'He who laughs last, laughs hardest,' said Daniel laughing to himself.

Someone suddenly appeared behind him, 'he who kills last is the only survivor.' Daniel quickly turned round, but before he could see who it was he was already too late. 'Scatter, senbonzakura,' said Byakuya, the blades gathered around Daniel and enveloped him. Daniel screamed like a bird screeching and disintegrated. 'Hanataro, get these three back to squad four, I'll head off to find the other one. He may not have sent a distress signal but I need to make sure anyway.' He looked back at the three bodies, 'Tch, to call for help just after they've got in, pathetic.' Byakuya flash stepped away whilst Hanatarou's relief squad gathered up the three near dead people.

Before Daniel's fight.

'Well now, I think this gives us quite a bit battlefield to have a rematch,' said Matthew as he looks around him and see nothing but barren wasteland.

'I agree.' Haodong turned round to Hikari. 'Kari, I have a request. This is going to be a death match between me and him, don't interfere please, unless I get killed.'

Hikari nodded to say that she understood. Although in her mind she's thinking of interfering if anything dangerous happens.

'My bankai's been improved more than you can imagine Richo, so get ready to be crushed,' taunted Haodong.

'You're nothing but talk, show me what you've got then Dingus McDong,' said Matthew insultingly.

'You and your idiotic names, this'll be the last time I hear of it.'

'Indeed it will be the last time, because I'm about to put an end to your life.'

'Dream on bastard. Bankai,' shouted Haodong raising his sword. The fiery bird appeared for a second and it enveloped Haodong to act as armor.

'I don't need to dream what's going to happen in reality. Slither, Negro Serpiente.' His arrancar overcoat completely changed colour, into a black and grey snake scaled pattern. A crossbow manifested on his left arm. 'Shall I make your death quick and painless then?' taunted Matthew.

'I should be saying that to you,' replied Haodong as he vanishes and slashes at Matthew head on a second later. Matthew raised his blade sideways to block.

'Always rushing off into battle, you never change Haodong,' stated Matthew.

'Always waiting for a chance to strike and never taking the initiative, you never learn Richo,' commented Haodong. They both smile at each other like good friends. Both vanished and reappeared facing each other with a great distance in between.

Haodong raised his free hand i.e. left, and shot fireballs at Matthew. He raised his crossbow hand and shot bolts of lightning into the fireballs. The attacks hit with neither getting through.

'Looks like our ranged attacks still equal in power,' said Haodong.

'Indeed, but a fight can never be determined using ranged attacks,' said Matthew as he charged constantly firing bolts.

'Too true.' Haodong jumped up and dived down pointing his sword at Matthew. Matthew parried and sliced upwards, Haodong span in mid-air to avoid the attack and used the force of the spin to attack again. Matthew jumped up and blocked. He shot out another few bolts at close range. Haodong flash stepped back and avoided them.

A fraction of a second later they both moved towards each other and attacked with ferocity and speed. No attacks injured either of them, but both kept up with the slashes and slices. The moved exceptionally fast for low ranked soul reaper and arrancar. Randomly appearing from place to place only to hack at each other repeatedly.

A minute or two later after many mini explosions from both spiritual pressures both of them stopped and jumped apart.

'This is getting rather tiresome, let's kick this fight up a notch shall we?' said Matthew with a devilish grin on his face and his snake eyes bared into Haodong.

'You know, I was just thinking the same thing.' Haodong stabbed his sword down into the ground and thrusted his arms outwards. The fiery armor he had on scatters into pieces around him, and then they all gather together into Haodong. He returns back to his normal appearance and it seems that nothing changed. Matthew grabs his crossbow and crushes it in his hand, it scatters into pieces around him and also gathers into his body. His appearance went back to what they were before he released his sword and also it seemed he didn't change at all.

'I'm surprised that you can still use that technique even when you're an arrancar Richo, I'm actually glad,' said Haodong as he wrenched his sword out from the ground.

'You may lose somethings when you die and become an arrancar, but one thing you don't lose is memories,' rectified Matthew. 'That technique, why I remember it like it was yesterday. Good times it was, when we were both still training we wanted a way to become stronger by using personal weapons, and to think it actually worked. By crushing up one of our weapons we absorb twice its spiritual energy and exceed our limit of strength.'

'Yes, only problem was, it lasted only one minute, let's make this time count,' said Haodong.

Before Hikari was able to see what had happened both of them were already slashing at each other with a speed faster than hers. The sound of both swords clashing rung out through the desert about fifty times per second. Half a minute past and both of them jumped back for a second before charging again back at each other. Hikari, from that one second, saw that both of them had cuts and bruises on them and they were panting quite heavily.

Haodong stabbed forwards Matthew jumped on the sword and flipped backwards kicking Haodong in the face. Haodong fell backwards as Matthew jumped above him and stabbed downwards. A minute is up. Matthew's blade pierces Haodong's chest as they both slam into the ground. Haodong coughed up blood as he hit the ground.

'Well, well, this was easier than I thought,' said Matthew breathing heavily. He tried to pull his sword out from Haodong's chest to stab again but Haodong grabbed the sword tightly and didn't let go even though blood was streaming down his right arm from his hand. 'Hey let go, what are you trying to do this time?'

'Do you remember Richo, there was a kido spell that I always struggled to learn,' asked Haodong.

'Yeah, wasn't it sixty six? But I always thought you were good at kido, I could never figure out the reason why you couldn't do that one,' said Matthew thoughtfully.

'The reason,' started Haodong as he raised his hand, 'because sixty six is two pale fire crashes, and I could never get in the correct amount of spiritual energy and I always used way too much.' As he was speaking a round orb of blue light grew bigger and bigger in his hand, 'I always seem to injure myself quite a bit when I try it. I wonder if it'll injure you as well?' Matthew tried to move away but he had already lefted too late and Haodong's point blank self-destruct Hado Sixty-six exploded and heavily injured him.

Matthew stumbled around, 'You bastard,' he cursed bleeding everywhere and he fell onto the floor.

Haodong looked to be in bad shape as well, but he had enough strength to remove Matthew's blade from his chest. He stood up next to Matthew.

'My time in squad four taught me many things, and one of them was to always save some reserve spiritual to recover yourself in desperate times.' As he said that the large wound in his chest slowly closed.

'Damn you, I'll get you next time, just you wait,' shouted Matthew with an angry face.

Haodong smiled sadly to himself, 'I never thought it'd end like this but, sorry my friend, there isn't a next time.' He raised his hand in front of Matthew, 'Good-bye. Hado number fity four, abolishing flames.' A burst of purple spiritual pressure engulfed Matthew. He screamed in pain and disintegrated. Haodong walked away but immediately clutched his chest, 'curse you Richo, it seems you hit a vital artery that I wasn't able to heal completely, well at least we'll die together,' he said thinking out loud. He dropped to his knees but was caught by Hikari just before he fell onto the ground.

'Well done Haodong. Don't worry, I won't let you die,' she said comfortingly as Haodong closed his eyes. 'Since you're here Byakuya, mind giving me a hand and get him to the relief squad?'

'You realized I was here? Not bad,' said Byakuya coolly walking from behind a rock. 'I didn't know that you had been with this kid, if I'd've known that I wouldn't've wasted my time coming here.'

'Just get him to safety please,' pleaded Hikari handing Haodong over to him.

'I don't really know what you see in this weakling, is he this precious to you?' asked Byakuya hoisting Haodong onto his shoulders. 'Why do you like him anyway.'

Hikari blushed, 'wha… what are you talking about. I.. I just didn't want him to die that's all,' muttered Hikari though you could tell she was hiding something. Byakuya just frowned at her. 'He has a kind heart, one that you don't get very often,' whispered Hikari.

'Sorry? I didn't quite catch that,' said Byakuya.

Hikari frantically waved her hands, 'nothing, nothing, never mind ha ha ha,' she said quickly. 'Ah well, thanks Byakuya, I'm off now.' Before Byakuya had anytime to respond she had already flash stepped far away.

Byakuya looked at Haodong again, 'he's still worthless in my eyes,' he said and flash stepped back to where Hanatarou's relief squad was.

**Sorry it's a bit late, i've just been very busy for the past few days**


	42. Chapter 40

Chapter 40 – The Beginning of the End

**Chapter 40 – The Beginning of the End**

'So? Any idea as to our next course of action?' asked Naomi walking between the two entrances pondering on what to do next.

The seven of them sat in a circle on the cold grounds of heuco mundo in front of a towering thick wall. The wall had two entrances which headed off into two directions. The six of them stopped there wondering as to which way to go, in this time Ratiasu and Haruka both had fallen asleep.

'We'll wait for Hikari to show up first. She's the strategist I'm sure she'll come up with something,' advised Ketu strongly.

'Mhmm, Hikari always has a plan or two up her sleeve,' agreed Crystal. Raven looked to be either deep in thought or completely bored.

They heard footsteps rapidly approaching and saw Hikari running towards them. 'Hey guys, thanks for waiting for me,' she called racing towards them.

'Hey Kari, we've been waiting,' Ketu called back waking up Ratiasu and Haruka in the process.

'Hikari stopped in front of them as everyone stood up and readied to move on, 'so, have you been waiting long? But didn't I say keep going and I'd catch up with you guys later?'

'Yeah, yeah we know. But we're kind of stuck here,' explained Ketu nodding towards the two entrances. 'There's two entrances and we have no idea of which one to go. So we were waiting for you to give us a plan or to come up with something.' Everyone except Raven, who was still either thinking or bored or staring into space, nodded.

'Well isn't this easy. Just separate into two groups and a group head down each one,' said Hikari as though it was completely obvious.

'I was just about to suggest that,' said Haruka.

'Sure you were, sure,' said Ketu sarcastically. 'Oh by the way what happened to the other four that was with you? And what about those two arrancars?'

'Don't worry, all four of them are, well, not dead exactly. Just really injured so Byakuya came and took them back to soul society. Also both arrancars were annihilated, I'm sure about that,' answered Hikari.

'That's good to hear, what about Haodong? Is he alright as well, make sure you take good care of him when we get back,' insisted Ratiasu. 'I think you two would make a great pair.' Ratiasu grabbed onto Ketu's arm, 'Isn't that right Ket?'

'I guess so?' agreed Ketu although sounding like a question instead.

'What are you saying? I'm not going out with him or anything, I just think he's a kind person that's all. And he's fine, I made sure that he wouldn't die, only because it'd be a shame to let such a brave warrior die,' she said frantically, her face red. Haruka and Ratiasu eyed her suspiciously.

'Hey, are you four done chit chatting. If you don't mind I'd like to get going already, this waiting is boring me. I'm itching for a fight,' complained Raven. 'Especially with those two,' he thought, thinking back to his defeat against Circe and having saved by an arrancar. The thought made his blood boil inside. His pride had been hurt and tossed about and he wasn't going to let those arrancars get away with it.

'Alright okay, we'll be going shortly. Let me just think of the best way to separate our groups,' said Hikari making a thinking pose. She walked and looked through both entrances staring deep down both of them. Both were similar like deep dark tunnels that had nothing interesting in them. She closed her eyes and stood inside each of them sensing the spiritual pressures down each one. 'Well, I can safely say that whichever one you head down, always prepare for a tough fight. I sense strong spiritual pressures coming from each entrance. Be ready for anything and always have your sword at the ready, after all this is Usaitar we're dealing with.' Ratiasu looked down at that moment. 'Don't worry Terri, he may be your brother but we all know that you're nothing like him. You have nothing to fear, once we clear him out we'll finally be able to return to our normal lives. But it won't be simple.'

Just at that moment a booming voice came out from both tunnels at the same time, 'What's the matter? Too scared to come and get me? Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I'll be waiting for all of you, especially you my sister, so get ready to die,' announced Usaitar's voice then it faded.

'That bastard, he's going to get what's coming to him,' shouted Ketu.

'Don't get too excited, save you anger for when we actually face him,' suggested Ratiasu.

'Anyway, I've decided for Raven, Crystal and Naomi to go as one group and the other to go as another. I think it's important for close friends to stay together and help each other, don't you all agree?' asked Hikari rhetorically.

'Got that right, time to end this charade,' shouted Ketu cheerfully.

'Friends eh? Whatever,' thought Raven though he had a smile on his face.

'Come on now, don't look so bored Rae, keep your spirits high, we've got a long road ahead of us,' said Crystal encouragingly.

'I'm not bored, I'm just a bit annoyed, but don't worry about me, take care of yourself,' said Raven calmingly. Crystal smiled at him.

'Let's make haste brother, we've got some arrancars to slay,' said an enthusiastic Naomi.

'Oh yeah, Usaitar's going down, I've never been more ready in my life, now let's get in there and blow some arrancar's head off,' shouted Haruka.

'You seem happy,' said Ketu. 'Whatever, that's expected I guess.' He turned to Ratiasu and held her hand, 'so Terri, ready for the final fight. And finally after this we can have a peaceful life together.'

'A peaceful life. Yeah, that sounds great,' said Ratiasu smiling at Ketu and looking at him as a lover would.

'Awwwwwww, isn't this cute?' said Haruka holding her hands to her chest.

Ratiasu and Ketu immediately broke apart, 'A ha ha ha, well er let's get going shall we?' laughed Ketu awkwardly.

'Yeah, yeah, let's get going, the earlier we leave the earlier we come back, he he he,' laughed Ratiasu nervously.

Hikari sighed. 'I don't do this often, but this could be the last time we see each other. But I trust that all of us will make it back alive.' She puts her hand out in front of her, 'hands in everyone, this is as awkward as it'll get but let's do this for everyone who depends on us.'

'Count me in,' said Ketu placing his hand on top of Hikari's.

'Yeah,' said Haruka and Ratiasu together who both also put their hands on top. Crystal and Naomi followed, and although Raven looked really uneasy about this also put his hand in though it looked half hearted.

'This is it, the end of the line. We will face Usaitar and his arrancars with courage, with bravery, and we will not back down until we are dead. We charge now into battle, but we may not charge into victory. We may go separate roads but our destination will be one. With this we all vow to meet back alive, our swords may break our spirits may shatter but we will stay alive until the very end. This is a promise that will be kept. We shall not back down, we shall not retreat, we shall keep going until the job is done. We face Usaitar for the last time here and now, and we shall scream and shout until his head is ours. And now, we face the end. Everyone. Good luck, if you die, never die alone. Remember those who you are fighting for, remember those who you are trying to protect and you won't falter. Show me your resolve. Now we face the final fight. Let's go.'

With that speech from Hikari everyone separated and ran off in their groups. Raven's group headed to the left and Hikari's group headed off to the right.

Raven, Crystal and Naomi ran down the tunnel at high speed focused on just one thing; kill anything that appears. They quickly saw light at the end of the tunnel and rushed towards it.

They hadn't escaped the tunnel yet, they had arrived in an excessively large room that was five times the size of a football pitch but with nothing in it except. There at the other end of the room stood Plata Acerogarra.

'Welcome, I've been expecting you, especially you Raven. Remember me?' he asked mockingly.

'How can I forget?' said Raven through gritted teeth and gripped his sword tightly.

'You seem to be on edge today. Relax a little, after all what good is being angry at your death bed?' he said walking towards them slowly and calmly.

'Don't screw with me you piece of shit,' shouted Raven pulling out his sword.

'Ha ha ha, how easy it is to anger you. Let me ask you, do you even know who I am?'

Raven's eyes widened with shock then he remembered why the feeling of this arrancar seemed so familiar and evil. 'Crystal, Naomi. Go ahead without me. I have a score to settle with this guy.'

'What but we can't just leave you, wouldn't it be better to face him together?' asked Crystal, but then backed off when she saw Raven's angry face.

'Leave this one to me. No matter what happens I'll take him down,' said Raven confidently.

'Big words, let's see you back them up.'

'Go, and good luck,' said Raven as Crystal and Naomi ran off past Plata and carried on going through the door into another tunnel.

'By now you must've realized who I really am, isn't that right, Raven?' asked Plata with a chilling laugh.

Raven walked with the intent of murder on his face towards him, 'I do, you murderer. Today I will have my revenge and I'll do what I've wanted to do since I came to soul society.'

--------------------------------

'Hey are you sure that leaving Raven there was a good idea?' asked Crystal as she and Naomi ran down the tunnel.

'Don't worry, it's Raven we're talking about here. I'm sure he'll be fine, let's just worry about getting out of here,' reassured Naomi.

'Yeah I guess you're right. Hey look I see light at the end again,' said Crystal pointing to the light in front shining through yet another doorway.

They both slowed down as they approached the doorway and walked into another large room. This room was exactly the same size as the previous one except this one was completely filled with water and nothing else. It was like a miniature ocean. And yet again one person stood blocking the entrance. It was Circe Marreina the one who previously fought Raven, but neither Crystal nor Naomi knew this so they both stared at the arrancar.

'Who are you?' asked Naomi reaching for her sword.

'You don't know? I'm Circe Marreina, arrancar, number four of the Wu Jian, and I'm also the one here to kill you both,' she said with a little too much confidence.

'Sorry, but we don't have any reason to fight you, and I'd prefer to settle things with a drink,' said Crystal calmly.

'Geez, you've been hanging with Shunsui too much,' sighed Naomi.

'He's my cousin so what'd ya expect. And besides Raven was in squad four most of the time when he returned. Anyway as I was saying Circe, neither of us have any reason to fight you, so would you just please move out of the way. I'd prefer avoiding pointless bloodshed.'

Circe let out an evil laugh, 'pointless you say? What if I told you if was me who sank that idiot Raven into the sea.' Just as soon as she had finished speaking Crystal had vanished and was already in a deadlock with swords against Circe. 'Now that's more like it, so shall we then?'

'You bitch, I'll teach you for hurting Raven, I'm gonna slice you into pieces,' yelled Crystal unable to contain her anger.

'My, my. You're a feisty one. Let's play eh?' said Circe coolly.

'Naomi, go on ahead. This one's mine,' said Crystal with a low evil voice that sounded nothing like her.

'Sure thing,' agreed Naomi nervously and decided it was better for her to move on. She moved forwards but Circe quickly blocked her path. But as she did Crystal came in and knocked her off Naomi's path. 'Thanks,' she said and ran through the doorway.

Naomi kept running, unwilling to turn or look back. She knew she had to keep going it was the only way to end this. She sensed that someone else was up front waiting for her, but she didn't slow down at all. She kept going and ran out of the tunnel into the familiar heuco mundo scenery. She looked up and in the far distance she saw some sort of massive building that resembled a pyramid. But before she could look further a blade swung down on her and she had to quickly jump out of the way to avoid it. She looked ahead, the land was empty except for one person standing there with his sword out and looked ready to fight to the death.

'The name's Zeo Oseomartir, fifth of the Wu Jian. And I've only got one thing to say to you young lady. Prepare to die,' said the arrancar and he charged at Naomi.


	43. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41 – Revenge is sweet, if you don't die as well**

'I'm going to take your life and be on my way in no time at all,' taunted Raven.

'Don't make me laugh you can barely kill a fly,' retorted Plata.

'Shut it you bastard, you've insulted me enough just by interrupting my match from before.'

'Interrupted? Ha, more like saved you, if I let Circe continue beating the shit out of you, then you wouldn't be standing before me today. Just so you know, I only did it so I can have the pleasure of killing you a second time,' sneered Plata.

'So it's true then. That's what this disgusting feeling I have had every time I look into your sick face. You killed my parents didn't you, you were the murderer that night who killed everyone that was dear to me,' shouted Raven with an accusing voice.

Plata gave out a evil laugh, 'Oh and how much I enjoyed it. The screams of your parents, the shrieks, the pain I inflicted, it was enjoyable. I especially enjoyed butchering up that cute sister of yours.' Raven immediately strikes his sword at him, which was blocked effortlessly by Plata.

'You fucking bastard, don't you dare talk about my sister. You're sick, and it's a good thing I'm going to put an end to you,' shouted Raven menacingly into Plata's face. 'I'm going to give you a taste of your own medicine, the pain I felt that day, the horror. I will inflict them all to you, and you will get what you deserve.'

'I'm shaking, why don't you just give it up. You've got no chance against me, you're just a little brat chasing after a revenge that's never going to happen. But if you really must insist, I'll make sure that when I destroy you this time, there is no chance for you to come back alive in any other form. I'm going to reduce you to cinders.' Plata pushed Raven away using his sheer sword strength.

'You're going to feel my years of hatred and anger, and that's going to annihilate you today.' Raven moved and strikes down onto Plata who blocked just as easily again.

'Come on, you talk of revenge, but in the end you're just a weak little kid who can't do anything right. These weak attacks will do nothing to me, I'm going to end all your misery right here then.' Plata pushed raven back again and slashed sideway at him. Raven moved up, flipped and slashed down using the force of the spin. Plata raised his sword to block but was pushed down into the ground as Raven shot down with force behind the sword. 'You're pathetic, this is barely a fight,' shouted Plata as he wastes no time in blasting a cero up at Raven. Raven flash steps to the side and charged again at him. 'So predictable,' said Plata as he instantly redirects his cero and it slammed into Raven.

'Shit,' he thought as he was unable to dodge, the cero smashed him into wall and blood splattered onto the floor as he coughed it up.

'You're pathetic, just like everyone else who I've killed. No challenge at all. You talk big, but just as I predicted you could never back it up.' All the time whilst Plata was talking, a blue spiky ball of energy was gathering up in his hand.

'You bastard,' said Raven under his breath just managing to stand up.

'Die. Gran rey cero,' shouted Plata as he released the most powerful cero and rammed it into where Raven was standing. Plata smirked, 'Is that all you have?' he taunted. 'Tch, nothing but talk.' He turned to leave.

'Didn't anyone ever tell you, never to turn your back to an opponent? Kurotsuki Yaibahana,' said Raven as a black bladed kido attack flew out of the smoke from the cero.

'I though as much,' Plata turned around and raised his sword just in time to block an attack from Raven's scythe. 'I wouldn't be very happy if I won and you hadn't even releases your sword now would I? it's just too easy otherwise.'

'Shut it,' shouted Raven as he shot another kido attack at point blank range. The explosion caused both sides to fly back and gained some distance between them.

"Now the real fun begins, I'm going to enjoy this," shouted Plata as he moved at Raven. Raven stood there, looking ready. Plata slashed with his sword. Raven blocked and again we have another deadlock.

'Feel the pain of death,' Raven raised his hand, 'Clinging to your every breath. Demons rise from below. Black smoke and toxic fumes. The sun is covered by a black cloud. Night falls, as will all who rest below the purity_. _Hado number 78, Creeping Plague.' A huge black cloud appeared all around Plata and started choking him.

'What the fuck is this?' screamed Plata.

'Just a little something that'll kill you.' The black cloud started rising around Plata's face.

'Damn you,' Plata jumped back and escaped the black cloud.

'Coward.' Raven flash stepped behind and slashed him down his back. Plata screamed in pain and launched another cero as he jumped away into the sky. 'Foolish,' said Raven, he flash stepped again in front of Plata and kicked him into the wall opposite, and sent another kido blade flying in his direction.

The kido attack hit causing an explosion on the wall. Plata looked really shaken up trickles of blood dripped down from his cuts. 'You'll pay for that, making me bleed.' He limped his way towards Raven. 'Now I'm going to show you true strength. Paralyze, Intoxicaras.' He plunges the sword into his stomach, it melts and envelops him. He gained armour around his body and face with a skeletal appearance but doesn't cover his hollow hole on his chest.

'This is your ressurrecion I'm guessing?' asked Raven looking unimpressed.

'Why of course, come and get me then,' taunted Plata.

'I don't need you to invite me.' Raven attacked, but the blade of his scythe was stopped just by Plata's hand. 'What the?'

'My ressurrecion makes my body metallic, in other words my entire body is armour that you cannot penetrate. This is the end of the line for you Raven. DIE.' He stabbed at him with his sword. Raven moves back to avoid the blade. 'You can run but you can't hide.' His sword suddenly changed to a liquid and he shot after Raven.

'What's this suppose to be?' He slashed the liquid with his scythe, but it just went through it and nothing happened.

Plata laughed, 'You idiot, you can't break a liquid. But it can break you.' Plata raised his hand and pointed at Raven.

The liquid changed back to a blade in the blink of an eye, 'crap,' thought Raven as the blade strikes him through his chest. He stared with shock at his hands 'my hands, they're starting to feel numb.'

'Starting to feel a bit numb there?' smirked Plata. 'That's the effect of my blade, once it pierces your skin it'll slowly paralyze you until you are completely unable to move.'

Raven ignored the numbness inside his body and shot another kido attack at Plata, who just raised a hand and crushed it. 'Grrr… damn you.'

'Your attacks are getting weak. It looks like my poison is taking effect. Poor poor Raven. You came all the way out here to avenge your parents, but it looks like you'll just die a second time.'

'Shut it,' panted Raven barely able to stand up. 'Screw you. I came here to kill you, and that's just what I'm going to do.' He tried raising his scythe again, but he just couldn't. his left arm had lost complete feeling, it was just limping at his side.

'Kill me? Train another million years then come back and try, even then you still probably won't,' taunted Plata.

'Shut up shut up shut up.' Raven lifted his scythe with just his right hand.

'How do you plan on fighting with just one hand? You may as well throw in the towel, face facts, you've lost.'

'Bankai,' shouted Raven.

'Bankai? Fool,' laughed Plata.

Just as Raven reached his bankai form everything in front of him seem to be a blur. 'What the hell.' He could barely feel any part of his body, he dropped to his knees and breathed heavily. 'Why does my body feel so heavy? Why do I feel so tired?'

'My poison doesn't just paralyse your body. It also slows down your internal systems. This means you are unable to withstand the force of your own bankai because it's absorbing your spirit energy faster than you can create them. Like I said before, you're finished.' Plata slowly walked towards him gathering what looks like another gran rey cero in his right hand.

Raven smirks, 'I'd never thought I'd have to use it here. Fine, I guess i'm going to do what I've never done before.'

'Quite talking like you're gonna win, cos you ain't. Gran rey cero,' the cero attack hit Raven and crumbled the ground around him.

'I came here to kill you. And no matter what it takes I'll do what I came here to do,' said Raven now with a deeper more evil voice. The dust cleared to reveal a completely different person.

'What… what are you?' asked Plata in a shocked voice.

'This is my demonic form, this is the form I was in when I was the gatekeeper of hell years ago.' His appearance completely changed, he had skeletal armour all around him like an external skeleton. And bony spikes stuck out of his back and shoulders, his hands were bigger and had claws. He even had a tail.

'And this is suppose to scare me? You look like an oversized dog, why don't you run away with your tail between your legs?' laughed Plata.

Raven stayed looking emotionless at him. 'The time is not to talk. It's time for you to die.' He vanished instantly and appeared behind Plata placing a feather on him.

'That's fast,' thought Plata as he jumped away. 'What did you just put on me? Get it off now.'

'Don't worry, it's just a feather. And as soon as all five feather are on you, you will be permanently deleted.'

'Five? Ha, then I'll just have to kill you before you put the five on then.' Plata made his moved, liquefied his armour and shot out blades at Raven.

'Too slow,' said Raven and he completely vanished.

'What the? I can't even sense his spiritual pressure anymore,' thought Plata as he looked around the room. It was completely quiet, not a soul in site.

'Behind you,' whispered Raven into Plata's ears before slashing him across the back and placing a second feather on him.

'Damn you,' screamed Plata. He went on a rampage randomly slashing around in the air just as Raven vanished again. 'Where are you, come out and fight like a man.'

Raven appeared above him and carefully placed a feather on the top of his head. It was too late before he realised because Raven had vanished again. 'What's the matter? I thought you were the stronger one here?'

'You're starting to piss me off. Show your face you cowardly swine,' shouted Plata waving his sword around.

'You're an idiot, waving your sword like a headless chicken. Fine I'll show you my face.' Raven appeared to the side of Plata and landed his fourth feather on him and disappeared again.

'Bastard, guess I've got no choice. You're going down where ever you are, I'll show you my ultimate technique." Plata screamed out and his flesh all turned to metal.

'That is truly sickening,' thought Raven as he watched Plata turn completely into a ball of metal.

'This is my final move Spike Cannonball. So get ready to die, no matter where you are I'll find you,' screamed Plata and he rolled around the room at lightning speed.

Raven felt a heavy heart beat that made his appearance known for just a split second. 'Crap, my time's running out. In a few more seconds my form will disappear and I'll probably die. Alright, just one more feather, I can do this.' Raven moved around swiftly avoiding the spikes that kept popping out of the cannonball.

'You can't hide from this.' Plata kept rolling around the place uncaring what he slams in to.

Raven hid and timed a perfect jump right above Plata. He landed perfectly and was just about to place another feather on him when his body suddenly stopped moving for a split second.

'How'd you get there?' Plata wasted no time and immediately shot out a spike at point blank range into Raven.

'Not now. I'm so close.' The spike pierced through his stomach, he could just about reach Plata. He made a lasting choice to rather die now and take Plata down, he grabbed onto the spike and forced it deeper into himself gaining just enough distance and placed the last fifth feather onto Plata.

Plata instantly stopped moving and Raven dropped to the floor with blood pouring from his wounds and his demonic form fading. Plata screams as he slowly vanishes.

'Just making you vanish is too good for you,' said Raven barely able to breath sitting in a pool of blood. He waved his hands and a large gate appeared decorated demonically. 'That is the gate to hell.' Random black hands started coming from the gate and dragged Plata in.

'Let go of me. Stop this now.' His pleas were unanswered and he disappeared behind the gates. 'I will get you for this Raven. I will kill you,' he screams as only his foot was still outside.

Raven laughs. 'As you know, time goes slower in Hell, as they want you to be tortured slower and the pain to last forever. So now you'll be deleted at a slow pace and be tortured at the same time.'

The door shuts. Plata disappears. Raven lay there. Bleeding. Dying.


	44. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42 – There is always someone stronger**

A big crash, and Circe and Crystal clashed in the middle in a deadlock.

"You've got some nerve hurting my Raven. I'll teach you to mess with us," shouted Crystal.

"Sure you can talk, but can you back that up with some power? I don't think so," taunted Circe.

"Keep talking and you'll have a blade sticking out your chest soon."

"My, I'm really shaking now. Who do you think you are anyway, you're nothing but a loser. Raven probably doesn't even like you, you just get in his way," laughed Circe.

"Silence! You know nothing, don't speak like you know something about him or me cos you don't know a thing," screamed Crystal pushing Circe off and jumping back herself.

"I know nothing you say? You're wrong there. I have faced Raven, and I know he's nothing more than a spoilt little brat who can barely hold his sword," laughed Circe.

"You bitch, you know nothing."

"And you, you're an even more spoilt brat for thinking that you can ever stand up to me. I'm going to squash you like a bug."

"You sure are confident aren't you? Let me tell you something. Don't underestimate me, I am far more powerful than you think," said Crystal as her spiritual energy glowed all around her.

"My, my. Is this fight finally going to get interesting?" Circe's spiritual pressure glowed around her as well. "Since all this talk is boring me, why don't we speed things up a bit?"

"You read my mind. Bankai," said Crystal firmly as two axes formed in her hand and wings grew from her back. "Shirohane Youshatenshi. No holding back now, prepare yourself Circe."

"Bankai? Is that it? You look like a lost puppy with such a weak bankai. Allow me to demonstrate true strength. Glisten, aguamarina." Circe's appearance changed to that of a mermaid but with a skeletal look and with a sword.

"Weak bankai you say? As I've said before, don't underestimate me. After all you release doesn't look like anything special either it just made you look uglier which is pretty useless in battle."

"You mock me? I don't usually get serious in fights. But I'll make a special case, just for you. So now you're going to die, any last words?"

"Actually yeah. How about? GO TO HELL!" yelled Crystal and she charged at her.

"I'm going to enjoy this," said Circe as she charged also

Their swords and axes clashed as they met causing the water below to send out thousands of ripples. Both jumped back, then went for another hit, and again an even match with neither side gaining an advantage or looking stronger.

"Not bad, to be able to hold a deadlock with me. I'm impressed, I'll say that much," said Circe calmly.

"Don't get too full of yourself. I've only just gotten started," said Crystal.

Both of them vanished and appeared again in a different place as their weapons clashed again. Their speed was increasing with every hit, their fight was a blur as they swapped blow for blow and still neither side had any advantage.

"You're boring me," said Circe irritatedly as they met in a deadlock for the hundredth time.

"Oh? Am I really? Or is it that you're tiring out and I'm winning?"

"Ha, don't make me laugh. With your kind of strength you don't come close to even waking me up," laughed Circe.

"Really? Then try this on for size." Crystal flash stepped back, "Hado thirty three, pale fire crash." Blue lightning like flames slammed into Circe.

"Was that it? A weak kido move like that could never hurt me."

"No, but this can," said Crystal suddenly appearing from behind Circe and slashed down.

"Hmph, I see," Circe immediately used sonido and moved out of the way, "Using that kido as a distraction to get behind me? That's a pretty cowardly and easy tactic to use. What's the matter? Can't face me head on anymore? Or are you scared?" taunted Circe.

"Keep talking and I'll give what's left of you back to Usaitar in a match box," said Crystal aiming another Hado thrity three at her.

"What are you, stupid? These idiotic kido attacks do nothing."

"But they're enough to keep you busy blocking," said Crystal as she appeared in front of Circe and hacked at her.

She blocked both axes and held the deadlock. "This is getting really annoying. Guess I've got no choice then. I've had enough of you, you've made me resort to my last option to take you down." Her mermaid like tail suddenly split into four tentacle like things and shot at Crystal. "You brought this on yourself."

"Shit." Crystal moved away from Circe but she didn't make it in time and all four tentacles slammed into her body. "What the? Why do I feel so numb? What have you done?"

"Ha ha ha. That is paralysis. My tentacles will paralyse anything it comes in contact with, and you're no exception. Now you know the power difference between us. And you can never hope to bridge that gap," boasted Circe.

"Shit, shit, shit. I can't move. I can't feel anything. Move damn you. Why won't I move, everything's slipping away. Why won't you move?" thought Crystal helplessly as she fell deep into the water and sank, slowly.

"And that's that, time to see how my beloved Plata is getting on," thought Circe as she's abut to leave.

"I've failed you Raven. I'm sorry." Crystal sank deeper. "I really didn't want it to end like this. But maybe it was just meant to be. Maybe my love for you was never meant to be realised. My sincere apologies." She sank to the bottom of the waters and lay still on the ground. "Good-bye, this world just wasn't meant for people like me."

Several seconds past and there was a sudden fluctuation in Raven's spiritual pressure. It felt as though he was completely disappearing.

"Raven!" She sat up in the water, but then lay back down, "Guess we'll meet in another life then."

"You're an idiot aren't you?" suddenly came Raven's voice from Crystal's head. "Giving up so easily? I never imagined that such a useless woman would be the woman I love." The voice faded slowly.

"Raven, wait. What are you trying to say?"

"Tch, get up or not it's your choice. I'm just going to say that if you do get up and fight. I'll be waiting for you, there's a peaceful life that awaits us Crystal. You're giving up too easily." The voice faded completely.

"A peaceful life with Raven? Now that's something worth fighting for. I don't understand why I gave up in the first place." With renewed encouragement, crystal stood up and shot out of the water.

"So. You still had some fight left in you huh? I thought so, you weren't about to give up that easily, cos then it'd be even more boring for me," said Circe expecting her to come back.

"Sorry Circe, I'm not ready to give up just yet. After all, I have my whole life ahead of me. And my first objective is to kill you," shouted Crystal in a better mood now and charged for Circe. Circe shot out her four tentacles again. "That trick may have worked once but it won't work a second time." Crystal flash stepped past all tentacles and with all her force behind her blade slashed down at Circe slamming her into the wall opposite. "Here's something you may not know Circe. I left seireitei during the invasion from Hisaigo for a long time. But during that time I frequently sneaked back into the seireitei library to look up some powerful spells I could use in combat. Unfortunately most of them involved extremely long incantations which for a lazy person like me could never be arsed learning. Either that or you needed phenomenal amounts of spiritual energy, that of at least three times a captain rank, which unfortunately I don't have either. But I did come across one that I was able to learn and perfect, this one was especially useful in one-on-one combat. And you, are going to be the first to try it out on." Crystal stood floating above the water, she put her palms together in front of her and started chanting in some weird language really quickly.

"I didn't ask for your life story, so just shut that trap of yours," shouted Circe as she moved swiftly using sonido and appeared directly in front of Crystal. "You're through." She sliced cleanly through Crystal. But there was no blood, Crystal, or whatever she sliced just vanished into thin air. Circe glanced around her and saw multiple copies of Crystal. "What's the meaning of this kido?" Crystal didn't answer her. "Crap, I can't even sense her spiritual pressure at all either. What is this." Circe lashed our and slashed up all the copies, but all that did was make more appear. "Damn you," she cursed as she slashed another one, but it popped back up behind he rand slashed her in the back.

Crystals voice echoes. "This spell makes you think I'm there when I'm not. It makes you so paranoid that you will lash out without thinking, so that battle strategies for you are useless. You think I'm there but I'll just sneak up somewhere else and attack. It actually makes you ignore the real me."

"Shut up," shouted Circe lashing out everywhere around her.

The real Crystal moved back behind her and prepared for the final strike as Circe was still randomly slashing around her.

"You coward, don't you know how to fight properly? Using some cheap trick like this you're feeble!"

"Sorry, but flattery gets you no where, this is your end," said Crystal she charged. She raised both axes and slashed a cross shape onto Circe's back, both wounds glowed brightly. And Circe's body started dissolving.

Circe turned and saw Crystal. "What have you done to me? I'm melting! I'll kill you for this," Circe tried to move but she was glued to that one spot. "How can this be?! Damn you. You little shit! What have you done?!"

"That, is my Bankai's final attack. It's called, Shiro Taiyou Kiyome and if two of my axe's wounds cross like a cross shape then my enemy will be purified and dissolve. So good-bye, for this is your death."

"Damn you. Damn you to hell," cursed Circe. "Fine, I'll accept this as my defeat, but that Raven brat won't be so luck." Circe vanished completely laughing like a maniac just before she went.

Crystal dropped to her knees and coughed out some blood, "Heh. Who'd knew that my spell would take so much out of me, and who'd knew that Circe's tentacles wounded me so heavily." She stabbed both axes into the ground and used them to support her up. "At least I can stand." Suddenly Raven's spiritual pressure dropped massively and it was on a point of non-existence. "No, Raven." She limped all the way down the passage to where Raven's fight was.

Raven was on the floor, lying in a sea of blood and from what Crystal can see, he was breathing very faintly. An arrancar stood above him, and pointed a finger down at him, "Useless Plata. I ask him to do one single job for me and he couldn't even do it. I'll just have to finish what he started then." Energy gathered in front of is finger.

Crystal used the last bit of her strength and rushed off at the unfamiliar arrancar. "Don't kill him," she shouted.

"And here we have another pathetic loser." The arrancar used sonido, moved a fair distance away from Crystal and blasted out a red cylinder shaped beam. It smashed into Crystal and smashed her into the wall.

Crystal dropped to the floor, her bankai had melted away to her normal sword and there was blood around her everywhere. "Such power, just who is he?" she asked herself, but everything went black for her and she remain motionless.

"Looks like Circe was pitiful as well. To get beat so easily by a little girl. Us Wu Jian are really losing our reputation here. I can't believe I have to clear up this mess. Nonetheless, you're both done for now," energy gathered in both his hands.

"Spot right there!" shouted a voice coming from the entrance tunnel. Jushiro, Shunsui, Kenpachi and Byakuya arrived on the scene.

"Looks like a good fight," said Kenpachi and without thinking he made his move and charged for the arrancar.

"More insects," the arrancar fired off another red beam. Kenpachi was thrown off his feet and back down the tunnel.

"Scatter, senbonzakura," said Byakuya as all sword pieces shot towards the arrancar who just raised his hand and deflected them all.

"Reves," said the arrancar without doing anything, and all the blade pieces flew back at Byakuya and slammed into him.

"Impossible!" thought Byakuya and cuts appeared everywhere on him when the blades sliced him. "How was he able to control my sword, not to mention that you own zanpaktos should have no effect on yourself."

"Such power, just who are you?" asked Jushiro.

"You don't need to know my name. But I will tell you that I am ranked 2nd of the Wu Jian." The arrancar turned his back. "I think I've had enough fun for one day, it's time to bid farewell."

"Wait!" shouted Jushiro. But the arrancar vanished. "This is a problem. Who'd knew someone like that still existed."

"Yes. Reves is such a rare ability, and if the 2nd ranked Wu Jian can use it, who knows what the top ranked Wu Jian can do," said Jushiro.

"I hope Ketu and the rest knows what they're doing," said Shunsui. "Reves. Who'd have known such an arrancar still existed.

**Sorry this is a bit late I've been too busy with my school work**


	45. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43 – The puppet master**

The sand around was violently lifted up into the air as Zeo's and Naomi's sword clashed. The both jumped back immediately and shot towards each other again. Again neither of them seemed stronger. And again they both jumped back.

"Not bad, not bad at all," said Zeo calmly.

"Yeah, you too," replied Naomi. Both vanished and appeared three times in quick successions every time with their swords clashing with neither side giving an inch.

"You know what I hate?" asked Zeo, "fights that last too long."

"You know, that's exactly what I was thinking," smirked Naomi. "Shimmer, Seireitenshi." Her sword extended into a long staff with a bardiche mounted on at the end.

"Think fast," said Zeo he vanished and appeared behind Naomi instantly. "Cero," the cero made a big explosion as Zeo jumped out of the blast range.

But Naomi stood there unharmed. "Ha, don't think so," she laughed, span and swung her weapon firing the cero back.

"Humph, interesting," said Zeo to himself coolly.

"Don't act so big when you're not. Hado thirty one Red Flame Cannon," she shouted as a ball of red energy shot out of her palm and crashed into Zeo after the reflected cero attack.

After the dust cleared Zeo stood there also unharmed. "A half powered cero with a weak kido? You didn't seriously expect that to hurt me did you?"

"Not really to be honest," said Naomi honestly. "But I will hurt you now." She moved quickly with flash step and got behind Zeo and swung her weapon. He effortless raised his sword behind him and blocked the attack.

"I guess I've played around for long enough. Writhe, Tenencia." A large amount of spirit energy exploded from him forcing Naomi to jump back to not get caught in the blast. As soon as she landed on her feet a dozen or so needle like white things flew at her. She raised her bardiche and blew them out of the sky with a kido attack from her blade. Behind them came more needles and she had to flash step to avoid them.

"Pathetic, those little things can't touch me," taunted Naomi trying to find where Zeo is through al the dust in the air. No answer came in stead more needles came flying her way, she continued to move more and more backwards to avoid them. "Tch, this is getting annoying," she thought. She swung her weapon once and blew away all the dust. Zeo stood calmly in front of her in his ressurection form.

He had bone-like gloves on his hands, his mask covered the entire right half of his face. He also has a boney whip-like tail. And both the tail and his fingers all have thin, needle like protrusions from the tips.

"Well done for dodging my attacks, let's see if you can keep it up," he said as he pointed both hands at her and continuously fired out the needles.

Naomi ran forwards and dodged them. "I won't need to dodge them if the source it gone," she shouted and flash stepped in front of him. "Got you." She swung her weapon downwards, but just about half-way down Zeo tail came swinging in and she was forced to jump away. Zeo fired out more needles and Naomi was unable to dodge because she didn't have time.

Two needles hit her right arm which was holding her weapon. "Unlucky," said Zeo. He moved his arm about and Naomi was forcefully made to do the same action. "This is my power, whatever I hit with the needles I will be able to control. I am known as the puppet master."

"Shit," cursed Naomi as she struggled to hang onto to her weapon but eventually Zeo's ability was too strong and she was forced to drop her weapon.

"Too bad," said Zeo and he charged swiftly with his other hand pointing towards her chest ready to deliver the finishing blow.

BANG! He crashed into her, but unexpectedly he was stopped. Naomi's right hand was free as she used it to stop Zeo's hand from reaching her.

"Heh, a puppet master is no good without is strings," she laughed. She had used her other hand to make a kido blade and sliced apart the invisible soul-threads that was attached to her arm and his hand.

Zeo improvised and did a forward flip behind her and then landed a kick on her shoulder sending her face first into the ground with a crash. "Don't get all high and mighty. You haven't even seen the true extent of my powers."

Naomi slowly got up with the support of her bardiche, looking a bit shaken but otherwise alright. "Alright then, I can wait, let's see what great powers you have."

"Don't regret those words." Zeo moved higher into the air and shot out all the needles in him to any inanimate object around him, this was mainly rocks and trees. The all gathered together below him and formed into a large golem. He floated down on top of the golem and went into a state of trance and concentration.

The golem moved and punched down to where Naomi was. She jumped backwards and dodged. "I see, well now. You've shown your true strength, I guess I should show mine as well." She held her weapon in front of her. "Bankai." Her staff extended even more and her bardiche became a double-bladed bardiche mounted on the extended staff. She had a pair of wings on her back, one white and one black. "Kozumikkukouken Seireitenshi."

The big golem opened it's mouth and slowly said, "It is useless."

"So, he's only controlling the golem. Ha, you've left yourself wide open," smirked Naomi. She waved her bardiche in the air and eight shadowy figures that resemble her appeared and all eight jumped up to attack Zeo directly.

Zeo doesn't move at all instead all eight managed to attack him, but to no avail because Zeo was shielded by some sort of force field around him.

The golem responded the attack and punched out two of the shadowy figures and they disappeared.

"This could get tricky," thought Naomi as she ran around the golem trying to think of a way to break Zeo's concentration or to sever the strings.

Because her 'clones' act on their own accord all of them tried to attack Zeo again, and ended up in failure again after another two got punch out by the golem.

Naomi jumped up and landed a hit on the golem cracking a bit on it's back. The golem swung round to hit Naomi but was blocked by two more of her clones which was destroyed after that.

The golem pointed his palm out and several spikes shot out of it blasting the rest of the clones to bits.

"Now things are starting to get interesting," she thought as she parried a spike. She continuously ran around the golem and looked for weak spots. It seemed that the damage from her earlier attack has left a dent in the golem's back, "Hmmm… if I hit it a few more times it should be greatly weakened right?" she asked herself. She charged, flipping behind the golem and dodging its barrage of spikes to land another swing with her bardiche on the golem's back in the same spot. This time the crack widened on the golem's back. "Got ya."

For the split second she thought she found a weakness and let her guard down a second smaller golem appeared behind her and smashed its fist into her side sending her flying and crashing into the distance.

She got up slowly and spat out some blood, "Bastard, using a trick as low as that. Alright, now I'm angry." She flash stepped back and instantly sliced up the smaller golem. The bigger golem launched more spikes at her, she blew them up in mid-air with various kido attacks and moved behind it for a third hit on the golem's back in the same spot. This hit seemed to have done more damage because the golem stumbled backwards and nearly fell over. This time the golem opened its mouth and shot out a red cero beam from it. Naomi smiled, she pointed her bardiche forwards and easily absorbed the cero attack, "Back you go," she said swinging the bardiche and releasing the cero back at exactly the strength she received it. It crashed into the golem and knocked back eventually losing its balance and falling over.

"I think it's about time we wrap this up," said Naomi flash stepping behind the golem and summoned all her clones once more. "Kozumikku Reitentei," she said raising her weapon into the air. The clones all gathered together into one place and slowly a giant size version of her bardiche was formed. She swung her bardiche downward and pointed it at the collapsed golem and the giant bardiche blasted towards it.

There was a tremendous explosion as Naomi's giant bardiche crashed into the golem and Zeo, they were completely overwhelmed by the ferocity of the attack and moments later, the golem had vanished, and Zeo lay on the floor bleeding from cuts everywhere on his body.

"Not bad, not bad at all. I've lost, and you've won, good game. You fought very well" panted Zeo trying to stand up with great effort.

"Thanks, I guess," said Naomi with a smile.

"Well? Aren't you going to finish me off?" asked Zeo.

"Nah, I don't want to kill, I just don't want to see anymore people get hurt."

Zeo smiled back, "Noble indeed."

"More like pathetic," a voice behind Zeo said.

Zeo turned round and saw the 2nd ranked Wu Jian. "Naomi, run for it now," he quickly shouted a warning to Naomi.

"You're useless Zeo, I'll disposes of you right now," said the 2nd ranked Wu Jian calmly with both his hands in his pockets. A red ball of energy gathered quickly in front of him and a cero blast was fired out at the defenceless Zeo.

Naomi flash stepped in front of Zeo just in the nick of time and absorbed the cero.

"Why?" asked Zeo.

"Because I can't stand around and see a defenceless person get hit no matter who they are," said Naomi and fired the cero back.

"Oh?" The arrancar didn't move and inch and still he kept his hands in his pockets. He stayed calm and said, "Reves," just as the cero was about to hit. The cero then flew fast his head and redirected itself back at Naomi with twice the speed.

"Crap," cursed Naomi as she had no time to dodge and was blown into the wall near where the tunnel exit was.

The arrancar flew up into the sky, "you're a nuisance." He fired off another quick cero at Naomi this time.

There was a big crash at where it hit but the attack didn't reach Naomi. A wall of water was raised to block the attack. The arrancar turned his head and saw Jushiro's shikai swords stabbed into the ground. "Enough with this," shouted Jushiro and Shunsui appeared by his side with his shikai swords.

"Tch, whatever. I don't have time to waste on this," said the arrancar and he vanished instantly.

"Wait!" shouted Jushiro, but the arrancar was gone.

"My, my. What a waste of energy chasing him for him just to disappear again, never mind," sighed Shunsui.

Jushiro went over to Zeo. "Tell us, who was that person?" he asked.

"He was… just someone… who's above me… in rank," panted Zeo.

"Is that all you can say?" asked Jushiro. Zeo smirked. "Fine." Jushiro raised his blade.

"WAIT!" shouted Naomi unable to stand up. "Please, don't kill him. Please, I don't want to see more die." And with that she fainted. Jushiro let go and picked up Naomi.

"Let's go then, we need to get her to squad four immediately. Ketu and the rest seem to be alright at the moment, we'll go to them later, if they face that arrancar they'll need more than power to win. After all, Reves is an ability that turns your own power against you," he said as he walked off down the tunnel with Naomi on his shoulder.

"It may be just my imagination, you seem to have changed a lot in your many years recuperating," said Shunsui. Jushiro didn't answer so Shunsui shrugged and followed him out of the tunnels.

**End of Part 4 – that was a good run, now just the last part which is pretty short, I believe at least, so hope you enjoyed this part**


	46. Chapter 44

**Part 5 - True Strength Revealed, The Final Frontier**

**Chapter 44 – Let loose the dragons **

"Hey Hikari, you sure those three will be alright?" asked Haruka running down the tunnel.

"Nope, but they sure as well will be worse if they went down this way," replied Hikari.

"What do you mean?" asked Ratiasu.

"Well, I sensed three powerful arrancars down that entrance, but then I sensed Usaitar's faint presence down this entrance so I had us go down this one," explained Hikari.

"Ah I see. Well then hope we're all ready to face Usaitar," said Haruka.

"Oh yeah, I've been waiting for this," said Hikari.

"Ladies, I think we've chatted enough. We're here," said Ketu as he saw the end of the tunnel quickly approaching them.

"About time, I was getting bored," said Hikari.

The tunnel exit arrived and the four of them jumped out into the light.

"Good afternoon, I've been expecting you," boomed Usaitar's voice from afar. They had arrived at what looked like an Egyptian desert complete with a fully built pyramid in the distance with a massive staircase leading to the top. At the top was a huge orb of light with something floating around in the middle. Usaitar was standing at the foot of the stairs with an arrancar next to him. "I'm glad you could all make it. Because now you'll be able to witness my victorious moment. You see that shiny orb up there? That is the last piece of the puzzle, the last piece of the sword. The piece that will enable me to rule everything. And no one's going to stop me now. That means you lose and I've won, you've arrived way too late I'm afraid, everything has fallen into place for my coronation."

"Not if we stop you here and now," shouted Hikari drawing her sword and pointing at Usaitar. Tough is seemed a long distance once she flash stepped she was within a few hundred metres of him, Ratiasu, Ketu and Haruka followed. Hikari was the only one to charge at Usaitar however.

"Wait, you're being too hasty," shouted Ketu.

"Ha ha ha, didn't I say you're too late? Get them now Carmesi," he ordered and an arrancar suddenly appeared in front of Hikari which wasn't the one that was standing next to him.

"Move it. Bankai," shouted Hikari, her sword shattered into pieces and turns into blades floating around behind her. "Gosai Rozehana." She moved her hands forward, "Hanayaiba." They all shot out at once to the arrancar, he however stayed calm and still.

Just before the blades hit he said, "Reves."

"Reves? How!?" said a shocked Hikari under her breath and failed to move out of the way as her blades came back and pierced straight through her.

"KARI," screamed Ratiasu and caught her just before she fell to the ground which was already stained with gallons of Hikari's blood.

"I'm sorry but you didn't give me time to introduce myself," said the arrancar calmly as if nothing's happened. "I am ranked two in the Wu Jian, I'm called Carmesi Vampiro, a pleasure to meet you."

"To hell with introductions," yelled Ketu drawing his sword.

"No. Stop," panted Hikari using Ratiasu for support.

"Why?"

"Reves. It's a rare arrancar ability that reverses all attacks and abilities. I never thought I'd see the day that another one of these would be seen," said Hikari standing up again after Ratiasu quickly healed her up a bit.

"You can't expect me to just stand here!" complained Ketu. Carmesi just stood there waiting, he didn't attack.

"This is just too funny, I've never heard of someone too afraid to attack before. Ah well, there's always going to be wimps out there. But unfortunately I can't stay and chat, I've got a world to rule," laughed Usaitar as he started climbing the stairs.

"Stop right there," shouted Ketu.

"You're annoying me, I think I'll do you a favour and force you to retreat," said Usaitar drawing his sword. "Be happy that I don't want to kill you just yet, I want to kill you, in my place with my rules." He swung his sword once and a black hole appeared beneath them.

"What the?" said Ketu. The hole shot out a wave of dark energy and instantly they all vanished. A second later they all reappeared back at the beginning, back at where they came out of the tunnel

"That was only a sample of my sword's powers. I will show you the rest once I get the final piece," said Usaitar with that same booming voice. "Come Carmesi, let's move."

"Yes sir."

"Matthew, I believe it's your turn again," called Usaitar.

Matthew Richardson, suddenly appeared in front of them.

"You again? But you died, I saw it!" said Hikari struggling to walk.

"Easy now Kari, you stay back a bit and just relax, you've lost too much blood" said Ratiasu supporting her to the nearest wall.

"Unfortunately I have a bad habit of staying alive, but hey I'm not complaining."

"Don't joke around Usaitar, do you really expect this one weak arrancar can hold us up for long?" shouted Ketu.

"That's where you're wrong. I'm not just one weak arrancar this time." said Matthew. Just as he said it the same black hole that teleported Ketu and the others appeared behind Matthew except this time it covered the entire visible plain. "This time I brought along some friends." The dark hole shot out energy and millions upon millions of hollows of all kinds started emerging from the ground.

"Oh crap, this isn't good," cursed Haruka. Minutes later, the entire ground was filled with hollows. There were ordinary weak hollows, menos grande, adjuchas and quite a lot of other arrancars as well. For some reason it was mainly menos grande and arrancars.

"Enjoy yourself," said Usaitar's voice as he carried on climbing the stairs.

"That bastard, I'm gonna rip his head off when I get to him," cursed Ketu.

"Let's just get through this first then we'll go rip his head off," said Ratiasu returning after making sure that Hikari was safe by casting a high level kido force field around her because she had fainted due to the loss of blood.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," shouted Matthew he drew his sword and pointed it towards the sky, "Charge!" The ground shook violently as an entire horde of hollows rushed towards them.

"I guess now's as good time as any to use that new release we've learnt isn't it?" said Ketu over the noise of the incoming horde. Ratiasu and Haruka nodded.

They raised their swords and a strong wind whipped up encircling them stopping any hollow reaching within ten meters of them. They all started to chant in a long incantation.

"The wind blows in the east. The water freezes in the south. The skies brighten in the west. The light shines to the north. The sun rises in the east, the sun sets in the west. The phoenix flies in the south and the dragon rages throughout the north. The fire that ploughs through the waters, and the wind that slices through the earth. All things in the world rise and join us. Let dragons roar!" As all of them chanted the incantation a big lock appeared in front of each of them with a key hole that was the right shape for each of their swords.

"Learnt a new trick? Let's see what you've got then," shouted Matthew all ready to go.

Ratiasu went first and stabbed her sword into the key hole, "Virtue and agility, let's go." she shouted and twists her sword clockwise. "Unlock."

Ketu then stabbed his sword into the lock, "Benevolence and Kiyo, come to me." He twists his sword. "Unlock."

Haruka was last, she stabbed her sword in, "Divinity and light, shine once more." She twists her sword, "Unlock."

The three locks all became unlocked and a bright radiant light surrounded them three a light so bright that Matthew had to raise his hand to shield himself from it.

The light suddenly shatters and Haruka, Ketu and Ratiasu stood there with no visible appearance change.

Ratiasu was holding a folded up old-fashioned Chinese fan, she swiftly unfolded it, "S**okuryokudo." She twirled the fan in her right hand and played around with it as if though she was a kid. "Not bad, I like it," she said happily.**

Ketu stood there with nothing in either hand. "M**unesanzun," he declared. "Well I can't say much about my dorakai, I've got nothing to comment on."**

**Haruka stood there with a very well decorated green long sword. "Tenrai," she announced effortlessly swinging her sword around. "Wow, this sword's light, not bad. Looks like all our dorakai's turned out to be nothing special, not yet anyway."**

They were interrupted by a sudden outburst of laughter from Matthew. "Oh dear, do you call those weapons? A crappy little fan, you with no weapons and some overly decorated piece of metal. Dear me, I was hoping for more of a challenge or at least some decent weapons to come out from all that chanting. Never mind then, this makes my job much easier. But still, this is just too funny, aren't I right guys?" He shouted and the other hollows joined in his laughter.

"Just keep laughing, because you won't be able to anymore," said Ratiasu raising her fan.

"Oh no save me, I'm going to get killed by a piece of paper," said Matthew sarcastically. Ratiasu then suddenly vanished and less than a second alter reappeared at the same spot. Blood suddenly shot out from a massive cut in Matthew's shoulder and half the hollows standing within a ten metre radius behind him was slayed instantly. "What the hell was that," he asked as he clutched his shoulder.

"Oh nothing, just a little speed for ya. So come on then, where's the laughter now eh?" taunted Ratiasu.

"Is it just me or have you changed a bit, you don't used to taunt people or tease them in any way," said Ketu.

"Well I know, but it's actually quite fun," replied Ratiasu. Ketu just shrugged.

"Damn you," Matthew cursed. "I let my guard down. Slither, Negro Serpiente." His arrancar overcoat completely changed colour, into a black and grey snake scaled pattern. A crossbow manifested on his left arm. He fired off a volley at Ketu, who just raised a finger and the arrows just stopped in mid-air and disintegrated.

"Cool, I like that," said Ketu looking at his finger with surprise.

"Hmm… guess these dorakai's aren't so bad after all. Let's see what mine can do," said Haruka and moved forwards swiftly with her sword. She tried slashing air but nothing happened. "Hmm…" Out of nowhere a cero shot was fired at her, she quickly flicked her sword and the cero just bounced off the sword. She flash stepped and went to slash at the menos that fired it but it moved backwards and she missed but instead the sword hit the ground with such a ferocity that it made a huge crater and killed anything in it. "Not bad," she thought as a few random arrancars moved in on her.

"Hado four, white lightning," came Ketu's voice as the hado easily wiped out the arrancars.

"Nice. First time I saw such power from a simple hado four," complimented Haruka.

"Coming from you that must mean it's good," said Ketu with a smile on his face.

"Get them now you idiots," they heard Matthew shout the order. All the hollows around them started to slowly move in. Ketu moved his hand ready and Haruka raised her sword. But before anything happened all the hollows disintegrated.

Ratiasu stood before them, "Hey guys, don't forget me."

"If you want something done right, do it yourself," cursed Matthew as he appeared above all the hollows and shot out a volley of arrows. Ratiasu moved and shot out dense sharp kido attacks from her fan, the attacks collided and exploded.

"Don't waste time, finish them off now," ordered Matthew and now every single hollow and arrancar that was there all moved in to attack, some had already fired off either cero or bala attacks at them.

"Boring," said Ketu. "Let's end this now, come Terri, we'll finish them off with one kido attack. Ratiasu stepped up next to Ketu. All three jumped into the air as the hollows filled the same they were standing at.

At the same time all three of them attacked with a single powerful kido move. Haruka ran her fingers down her blade which then turned a light green colour and swung it once aimed at the ground shooting out some very dense spiritual pressure into the floor. Ratiasu raised a hand and shouted, "Wave of destruction number three, eternity of light." She thrusted her finger downwards and sent a huge shockwave of a white light into the ground.

"Let's end this." Ketu raised both hands into the sky and it darkened even more, "Skies darken and dragons roar. The land has fallen and the mighty will rise once more. Hado ninty eight, dragon meteor!" He then moved his hands downwards as if throwing something down. The skies filled with rock of all sizes and rained down onto the hollows. All three kido attacks collided and crated a huge shockwave in the centre wiping out anything that was there.

For the next minutes the area was just covered with dust and the sound of huge rocks crashing into the ground and smashed in to pieces by waves of energy.

Eventually everything started to settle down and the dust cleared slowly. The ground was unrecognisable, there were nothing there apart from massive craters scattered everywhere. All but one thing still remain standing. Matthew Richardson was clinging on to his sword trying not to fall over.

Matthew let out a burst of laughter. "Not bad, not bad at all."

"I'm impressed, to be able to laugh like a maniac even after we blasted you with powerful kido attacks needs a lot of skill. So I should be saying not bad to you," said Ketu.

"Don't patronise me," he said through gritted teeth. He eventually couldn't with stand the weight of his own body and collapsed onto the floor laughing like a crazy person. "Just because I lost now doesn't mean it'll be the last time you see me. I'll be back, just you wait, and next time I'll get you. Just you wait." He broke out into another burst of laughter again as he disintegrated.

"That is one freaky arrancar," said Haruka.

"Well done my friends. I expected nothing less from you lot," said Usaitar's voice. They all turned to him and saw that he has reached the top of the pyramid and is attaching the last piece of his sword on. "And now, you can witness my finest moment. For hundreds of years I've waited to regain my sword, and now I have." He placed the last piece in place and his sword let out a huge amount of dark spirit energy all around him. He shot out one bolt of dark kido at Ketu, but he flash stepped out of the way and avoided it.

"Good, good. I didn't want you to go down that early, you three will be defeated in my dimension by my rules." He raised his sword in front of him, "Warp, Jigen Shukun." Energy from all around his gathered into the sword and turned from a sword into a dark energy blade. He moved his sword in a circular motion above him and a dark hole appeared. "If you want to defeat me then I invite you to my dimension. Yes that is my sword, dimension master's ability. It can create and warp dimensions. So if you dare, come and I will crush you all once and for all." He and the two arrancars next two him floated up slowly and entered the dimension hole.

"Looks like the final battle is about to take place. Shall we then?" asked Haruka.

"Yeah, let's take him down together," said Ratiasu.

"As friends there's nothing that can stop us, let's go," said Ketu inspiringly and all three of them flash stepped next to the hole and entered, into the final place to end Usaitar.


	47. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45 – Final face-offs**

Zeo limped his way through the vast plain of sand holding his wound as blood dripped onto the floor and made it to the area with the pyramid in.

"I'm not dead yet Carmesi, I'll show you how useless I am," he though desperately. He spotted the big hole in the skies. "I'm coming for you, just you wait." As he slowly made his way to the black hole he saw another figure who also seemed in pain and was slowly trudging up the stairs. "Looks like someone else if gonna join in the fun as well." He carried on towards the black hole.

Meanwhile Ketu, Ratiasu and Haruka jumped out of the hole and into the new dimension. They looked around them, everything was red, the entire dimension was red. They were in a square room with medieval castle walls surrounding all four side that were red.

"I can see this guy likes red as much as you do Terri," said Ketu taking in the area around him and examining the walls.

"I like vermillion, there's a difference," snapped Ratiasu.

"Here we go again," sighed Haruka.

"Vermillion, red, what's the difference," Ketu snapped back.

"There's a whole lot of difference."

"What difference? There is none, vermilion is just a different shade of red, so it's red," said Ketu firmly.

"Look here," said Ratiasu and took off her scarp and compared it to the wall, "It's a different colour."

"Well obviously it's different because it's another shade. It's like saying that viridian isn't green which is obviously not true."

"They aren't the same so it's a different colour!"

Usaitar's laugh came from all sides of the walls and halted their argument. "As much as I like seeing my enemies argue in confusion, this argument is getting extremely tedious and annoying so I'm just going to shut you both up now."

"I hate to say I agree, but that was pointless," sighed Haruka.

"She started it," said Ketu.

Again came Usaitar's laugh, "I can't believe my greatest enemies are acting like children. Or I suppose you could call this a lover's quarrel. But whatever I don't have all the time in the world so why don't we speed this up a bit." He emerged slowly from the ground along with the two arrancars. To his left was Carmesi Vampiro, and to his right now that they can see the arrancar close up noticed it was female. She had long black hair which evil looking red eyes and no visible arrancar mask on her face.

"Alright so we're here what now?" asked Haruka with her sword in front of her.

"Well firstly I'd like to say congratulations on getting this far. And of course welcome, welcome to my dimension. This is the true power of my sword, Jigen Shukun. It is able to create a dimension of its own at free will and warp it to however I please. Quite handy when I want to make a quick getaway, and also quite handy when fighting because now you're fighting by my rules."

"Yeah yeah yeah, how long are you going to drag this speech on for?" said a bored Ketu.

"Young people these days really have no patience at all. You do know it's rude to interrupt when an elderly is speaking don't you?" said Usaitar.

"I didn't come here for pleasantries. I came to fight and kill you, got it! So quite with the weird things bastard."

"How dare you speak like that to master Usaitar with such ill words," said a scary voice from the female arrancar as she appeared right next to Ketu with her sword across his neck.

"Hey back off," warned Ratiasu suddenly appearing by the arrancar with her fan next to the arrancar's neck.

"Now now people, let's just calm down. We don't want to rush everything," said Usaitar calmly.

The arrancar jumped back, "Sorry Master."

"It's fine it's fine," said Usaitar. "Now then why don't we start with some introductions first." He signalled to Carmesi, "Well I'm sure you all know him by now. He is ranked two and his name is Carmesi Vampiro." He now signalled to the female arrancar. "I think this is perhaps the first time you've met this arrancar. She is ranked one, my most loyal follower and has been a great help to me which I truly appreciate. Her name is Emperatriz Endriago. Now you may wonder why I'm going to the trouble of introducing you to them. Well as they say, it's common courtesy to let you know the name of the person who's going to kill you," he said mockingly.

"Don't screw with us, we know perfectly well that you don't stand a chance," said Ketu back.

Usaitar laughed, "Whatever you say Ketu. I guess we should just get on with it and let our swords do the talking. But before you all die I'd just like to say it was fun playing with you guys. I thoroughly enjoyed my journey for power and I actually enjoyed you three trying to stop me. After all there's no fun if there's no competition. And one last thing," he looked straight at Ratiasu.

"Ratiasu, or Terri as your friends now call you. I guess I should apologise, for everything I've done. Though I'll be honest with you now, I never liked you. You were always so popular, you made friends easily. Even though you were just the same as me having incredible abilities you still managed to get through. And for that I hated you. Have you wondered why I changed my title to 'the white soul reaper'? One, obviously because I'm completely white. But the other reason, was to separate any relationship I had with you. In the end I guess that didn't work out well, you can never change your name so I was stuck with Usaitar. But I should thank you as well, after all if it wasn't for your information I would never have achieved my ultimate goal. So I guess you can say we're even. And now that we are, there's no reason for any of us to hold back. Bit of a shame I never really learnt bankai, but nonetheless, I'll still crush you. I don't need bankai to beat up worms like you."

"Alright, enough with the small talk why don't we finish this here and now!" shouted Ketu.

"Why the rush? Wouldn't you want to enjoy the last bit of your life a little longer?" taunted Usaitar.

"I'll enjoy my life after you dead," said Ketu getting impatient and flash stepped in front of Usaitar and aimed a kido beam at him at close range. But the attack didn't connect, instead another black hold appeared in front of Usaitar and the kido was sucked in.

"No need to rush. After all you are in my world and you must follow my rules." said Usaitar firmly. Ketu quickly flash stepped back to where he was in case they attacked back. "Let me ask you, have you ever wondered why Ratiasu is around your age yet she is around five hundred years older than you?"

"Actually, I've never noticed that. But now that I think about it, if she's your twin she should be much older than me," said Ketu thinking about it.

"Well, it's because of her speed. Her movement is so fast that something else had to be given up, and that was her aging speed. Her aging speed was slowed down dramatically, so as long as she stays as a soul reaper she'll probably live for another tens of thousands of years, so here's my advice, don't get too close otherwise it may be painful in later years."

"When I want your advice I'll ask for it, so shut up and don't interrupt in my affairs," said Ketu shooting out some sharp kido attacks out him.

"Attacking recklessly has never been your style has it? So why change now? Or perhaps is it because you are afraid?" sneered Usaitar as he easily absorbed those attacks into somewhere else of the dimension. "Afraid that you'll let your friends down and cause them to suffer? Afraid you're not strong enough perhaps?"

Ketu clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, breathing hard but didn't say anything back.

Usaitar laughed mockingly, "I'm right aren't I? Look at you, you're a mess. You're weak and most of all Terri doesn't need you, you're just a hindrance to her."

"Shut up," shouted Ketu unable to contain his anger.

Ratiasu then put her tender hand on Ketu's shoulder. "Don't worry, just calm down. Remember, keep a clear head," she said with a soothing voice. Ketu's hands relaxed and he started breathing normally again.

"That's right, don't let your temper get the better of you. I may be your enemy but I won't be satisfied with an easy win. I want to crush you at your best so then you have nothing to say afterwards."

He stopped talking and an eerie silence hung over the room. A thick blanket of tension covered the area and no one moved even an inch.

"Lord Usaitar what are we waiting for exactly? Let's just finish this now," suggested Carmesi.

"Alright, fine. I just wanted a little chat before the final fight you see, to clear up some things. Nothing wrong with that is there?"

"Not at all my lord," said Carmesi.

"Let's get things started then shall we?" Usaitar raised his sword. Haruka, Ratiasu and Ketu stood ready for any attack. "Well, they're all yours." Carmesi and Emperatriz moved quickly and attacked in an instant.

They both aimed their attacks at Ketu. Ratiasu and Haruka flash stepped onto either side of him and blocked their attacks. Carmesi and Emperatriz flipped back on either side of Usaitar.

"Hmmm… Don't you agree it's a little cramped in here? Especially for a three on three fight. I know, why don't we separate to give us some more leg space? Divide and conquer you know." Just as Usaitar raised his blade, Carmesi moved in to attack Ratiasu and Emperatriz moved in to attack Ketu. As each of the attacks was blocked they vanished.

"What did you do?" demanded Haruka.

"Don't you worry about a thing. All I did was send them to another part of my dimension so they have more room to move around and fight. And what's more is that they'll fight on fair ground because I won't be controlling the dimensions over there. I think that's fair. I may be an evil villain but I am still honourable."

"Just bring them back now."

"No can't do. They won't come back until either they win or I lose. Basically you need to kill me before they can make it back because I seriously doubt, even fighting on fair grounds that they stand a chance against my top two arrancar."

"You're underestimating my friends," said Haruka.

"Perhaps. But what I wanted was to offer you a proposal."

"Whatever you offer will get a no from me."

"Aizen tried and failed to stand at the top. But now, I will succeed and stand at the top, I will fill the empty seat. Haruka, will you not join me? With you, we'll have no problems ruling this world. Won't you consider joining us? This world needs a good leader, the world needs someone like me. Help me rule Haruka, together we will be unstoppable."

"Over my dead body," spat Haruka.

Usaitar sighed. "Well, I tried, but I had a feeling your mind was made up. So, let me tell you something Haruka. There are only two types of people in this world. Those who kneel before me and obey, and those who will die. You, Haruka, are the latter and, will die."


	48. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46 – Speed against Power**

Ratiasu raised her fan to block Carmesi's attack, but as soon as she blocked it she suddenly felt as if her body was lifted off the ground. She looked around, Ketu and Haruka had disappeared and she was floating in darkness, then a second later she fell, deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Minutes later, although it seemed like hours to Ratiasu, she landed hard on the ground. She slowly got up and looked around. The area had significantly changed. It wasn't the castle type wall in one room that she was in before. But now she was on a vast plain of flowers and grass. The place actually looked surprisingly pretty. Ratiasu took her time and took in the surroundings. There was nothing else in sight except the plain of flowers and grass, no rocks or trees.

"I don't remember much about Usaitar from our child days, but for him to warp me to a place like this? A bit too strange, what's he up to?" thought Ratiasu to herself.

There was a sudden sound and Carmesi appeared a few metres in front of her. "I'm glad you could join me," he said.

"Alright what's going on now? What does my brother have planned this time?" asked Ratiasu pointing her fan at Carmesi.

"Yes very threatening that is," he said sarcastically.

"Enough with the sarcasm I just asked a simple question. What kind of low cowardly trick is Usaitar up to this time, separating us like this and placing me in such a weird place."

"My Lord is not a cowardly person who relies on tricks to win a fight. Even though he stated that this is his universe and he controls everything in it, he will not do anything that will give him an advantage. He may be evil but he's one of the most honourable people I know and that is why I pledge my loyalty to him."

"Okay, to be honest I never expected any brother of mine could be dishonourable and I guess I was right. At least I hope," thought Ratiasu. "So alright then, explain to me why he separated us and where are we?"

"He separated us into three fair one on one fights. And the only way to escape is by killing me, which of course you won't do. Where we are, is just another section of the dimension created by my lord's zanpakto. There is nothing here that can be used to enhance fighting strength or distract us. This place was designed for a completely fair fight."

"I see, well then. I guess, let the best fighter win."

"Yes, so prepare to die, I will do my lord a great favour and clear you out of his path." A cero shot was quickly fired out without any movement from Carmesi.

Ratiasu was quick to move and moved her fan in front of her and just as the cero hit her fan she lifted it upwards and the cero was easily deflected. Carmesi didn't stop and fired out a continuous volley of ceros. "Hmph, don't try weak attacks," said Ratiasu. She placed one hand on the top of her fan and one on the bottom side she then flicked both hands the opposite way the fan stayed hanging in mid-air as white beams of energy shot out and intercepted the cero shot for shot.

"You're right, I shouldn't be trying weak attacks against you. But I wanted to see how good you were first, after all if you couldn't easily survive that then there'd be no point in carrying on with our fight."

"Are you saying that was just some test to see if I was strong enough?" asked Ratiasu.

"Indeed it was, and congratulations you passed. But even so, I don't think you're strong enough for me to draw my sword just yet."

"Really? Well then, I think it's finally time I took a fight seriously and I'll make you draw your sword." Ratiasu vanished and was next to Carmesi in the fraction of a second she sliced down expertly with the bladed side of the fan. Carmesi moved out of the way a tiny bit too late was a part of his right sleeve was cut but there was no flesh wound.

"I see you're fast. Lord Usaitar did warn me about your speed, but seeing is believing, so I wanted to see it for myself. And now that I've witnessed your strength I know I can go all out." Carmesi drew his sword and a wave of spiritual pressure was sent out from his sword signifying its strength. Ratiasu stood there unphased by the brute strength of Carmesi's blade. "To stand there with this much spiritual pressure and not even flinch. I see I've picked myself a worthy opponent," he said calmly as he stood there, sword at his side.

"Indeed you have, an opponent that's going to kill you," Ratiasu stood with her fan at her side standing there calmly letting the wind from the spiritual pressure die down. "Aren't you going to use your resureccion?"

"There's no need just yet. You're not that strong, as far as I can see anyway."

"We'll just see about that." Ratiasu vanished once more and slashed down with her fan right in front of Carmesi. He was expecting it this time and stepped back to dodge. Ratiasu landed and shot off forward and charged into Carmesi with her fan. He raised his sword vertically and stopped her charge.

"Not bad, you may have speed. But you do not have enough strength," he said as he pushed Ratiasu away. He then fired another cero rapidly. Ratiasu flicked her fan and deflected it up into the air. She then moved behind him and stabbed at his back. He turned around and blocked, then used the other hand to fire a close range cero. Ratiasu saw it coming and intercepted the close range cero with a close range hado four. The power was equal between the two of them and both managed to jump out of the explosion unharmed. "That's some power you've got. To be able to strengthen a weak hado like that to the level of a cero attack, not bad. Not bad at all."

"Well truth be told hado four is my most skilled and favourite kido, so I've strengthened my hado four to that of a level eighty kido," explained Ratiasu.

"I see, well then let's continue." Carmesi moved with sonido to behind Ratiasu, but she was way too fast for him and flash stepped behind Carmesi and fired a hado four at him again.

"Not this time. Reves," he said and the hado travelled round him and back at Ratiasu. She wasn't expecting it and was blown out of the sky by her own kido. However, she landed safely on her two feet with only a small cute across her arm.

"I can't say I wasn't expecting that to happen, that was rather predictable," taunted Ratiasu.

"Blocking your own attack with you fan? You have very quick reflexes I see. I wouldn't expect nothing less from the sister of my lord."

"You haven't seen anything yet." She folded up her fan and a white blade extended out from the fan. Her left hand lit up with blue lightning around it. She put her left hand onto her right hand and infused the lightning with the blade. She raised the fan sword with both hands and gets ready for attack. Carmesi stands his ground and watches.

The blue lightning that now surrounded the blade grew bigger, she raised it above her head and swung it hard shooting out a huge bolt of lightning at Carmesi.

"Let's see you expect this one. Reves," he said coolly, the lightning whizzed past his head and turned round and shot off at Ratiasu with twice the speed and power.

Surprisingly, Ratiasu smiled. The lightning smashed into her and raised a huge dust cloud. From that dust cloud Ratiasu came flying out at an incredible speed and has lsashed at Carmesi already within a second. He quickly moved and blocked the attack just in time. Ratiasu flash stepped again behind him and slashed multiple times, Carmesi struggled, but managed to block them all. Ratiasu shot a close range hado four at him. He used Reves again and jumped back as the hado four hit Ratiasu. He saw a slight movement from the smoke from the attack and instantly he was slashed across the shoulder unexpectedly. Ratiasu went for another attack but Carmesi blocked the next one and fired a cero at her. Ratiasu opened up her fan, the blade disappeared and used the fan to deflect the cero as she carried on her attack.

Carmesi was completely overwhelmed by Ratiasu's speed and was cute on his legs and arms as well, though no fatal wounds were dealt. With one last attempt to recover from the attacks Carmesi fired another volley of cero attacks whilst Ratiasu shot like a bullet after him. She flash stepped around the cero weaving around them and intercepting them when needed. She got closer to Carmesi with every move she took and eventually arrived in front of him. She quickly folded up her sword behind her and the blade came out, and she slashed down. Carmesi raised his sword horizontally to block. Ratiasu forced the sword against Carmesi and he was pushed downwards whilst they were high up in the air.

"As I've said, you lack power. You can't win against me in strength," said Carmesi still calm even though he was about to crash into the ground if this carries on.

"don't underestimate me, I have got some power." As she said this her left hand glowed with the same blue lightning again and she forced her hand down onto the blade. The blade glowed with the lightning and Ratiasu forced Carmesi away and swung her sword sending Carmesi crashing into the ground and a massive bolt of lightning followed and smashed into him.

Ratiasu landed a fair distance away from him. "That is my version of hado four," she said. She opened the fan up again and flicked it blowing away the dust that was raised when Carmesi crashed into the ground. The vegetation around where Carmesi was lying was all scorched and all there was a brown dead looking crater.

Ratiasu knew Carmesi wasn't dead, but she wasn't going to kick someone while they were down so she waited for him to get up. Eventually after a few minutes Carmesi started to stand up, slowly and was struggling a bit. "Impressive, turning a simple hado four into such a powerful attack. I'm honoured to be your last opponent."

"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit, that lightning attack was what me and Ketu designed together."

"Ketu? You mean that boy who was with you earlier?"

"Yep, that was him. He may look arrogant and immature. But he's a really nice person and he knows a lot about kido, enough to come up with his own set of kido, though I did help him, so it's really our set of kido."

"Own set of kido attacks eh? Now that sounds interesting." Carmesi was already back on his feet, apart from his torn clothes and his heavy breathing, it doesn't look like he took any damage at all. "You know what, I'd really love to see that set of kido attacks you two created. It intrigues me."

"Well, if you can still fight on I may not have no choice but to use it," said Ratiasu getting ready again. "I can see your strength though, getting hit by my hado four and not even getting a scratch. Guess I need to work a bit harder. Alright, I guess it's time for the main show to start. I hope you're ready, because this time, there is no holding back." As she said this, Ratiasu's spiritual pressure glowed and raised high around her as two dragons wings sprouted from her back.

"Finally, let's get the show on the road," said Carmesi as a dark, black spiritual pressure surrounded him. He stabbed his sword into the ground and pressed his hand on top of it. "Drain them empty, Oscuro Vacío."


	49. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47 – Is it finally time to get serious? **

The dark spiritual pressure of Carmesi concentrated into his sword. His sword melded and vanished into his arm and a dark shadow blade replaced his arm. A black cloak appeared behind him and it tied itself to Carmesi's neck.

"You're a vampire, correct?" asked Ratiasu fanning herself.

"Indeed I am," said Carmesi smiling at her and revealing two long fangs.

"I thought vampires are suppose to suck blood or something else."

"We do, I have evolved and become stronger by sucking away any spiritual energy I find."

"So what's with the sword then? It looks like a silhouette."

"It's just a tool used for absorbing spiritual energy."

"I thought as much, that blade ain't getting anywhere near me though."

"Really? We'll see about that." Carmesi vanished and attacked Ratiasu from behind with a stab. Ratiasu who was faster saw it coming, side stepped folded her fan and countered attacked with a slash. Carmesi vanished again and appeared at where he originally was standing.

"What was all that about?" asked Ratiasu calmly fanning herself again.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to see if our speed difference was still there and it still is unfortunately for me. You are still definitely faster, I was warned so I came fully aware. Never mind I'm faster so the difference isn't as big as before."

"Whatever, let's just get on with it."

"Don't regret those words," said Carmesi. He ran, then vanished and appeared in front of her with a frontal downward slash.

"Live without regrets, or don't live at all." Ratiasu folded her fan and blocked the attack with her blade. "Do you really think a frontal attack will do anything?"

"I do actually," said Carmesi confidently, the shadow blade suddenly passed through Ratiasu's blade, she jumped back immediately but the shadow blade was able to cut her leg.

"Damn you," cursed Ratiasu as she grabbed her leg in pain. "How can a little cut like this hurt so much?"

"That is no ordinary cut. This is my blades power. Because of it being a mere shadow it can pass through anything and harden when it needs to. And also, it'll absorb an incredible amount of spiritual pressure with just one touch. Do you feel it? Your body is getting weaker, your strength is failing you."

Ratiasu could feel it, her spiritual energy was being drained from that wound she got. "So is that all there is to your resurreccion? That's rather less that what I expected." Ratiasu took a deep breath and readied herself again. She once again charged her blade with lightning and fired it out with a swing of her blade.

The lightning was unexpectedly faster this time and Carmesi had just enough time to say "Reves" before it hit. The lightning too an abrupt U-turn and shot back at Ratiasu. She was ready this time and absorbed the lightning back into her blade, span round and shot off a bigger, faster and much more powerful bolt of lightning.

Carmesi wasn't expecting it and only managed to dodge it by jumping out of the way, but the explosion caught him and he was blown even further. Ratiasu expertly flash stepped behind him, grabbed his shoulder, chucked him down and fired another bolt of lightning after him. The explosion was massive, but out of the smoke shot out Carmesi lunging at Ratiasu. She side stepped out of the way and Carmesi slash sideways. She blocked but just in case the shadow sword passed through hers again, she quickly moved away.

"Impressive combinations, I must commend my lord on having such a talented sister," said Carmesi.

"Save the useless chat for later," said Ratiasu looking deadly serious for the first time in ages.

"As you wish." Carmesi blasted out a cero beam. Ratiasu spread out her fan and sliced the cero in half down the centre, twirled round and fired out some white beams at Carmesi.

He flew at her avoiding the white beams. She fired out one large beam and then switched to the sword form and flash stepped after it.

The beam was intercepted by a black cero type attack from Carmesi and a big cloud of smoke covered the place where both attacks clashed and Carmesi and Ratiasu disappeared behind that smoke. A second later the smoke was wiped clear when a wave of spiritual pressure was sent out when both their weapons clashed again. Ratiasu didn't hold the deadlock for long, she ducked down and span to slash at his feet. Carmesi jumped and slashed downward aimed at Ratiasu's head. She raised her sword horizontally, but instead of blocking it, she parried it and aimed a stab at Carmesi's chest. He side stepped, and turned to slash at Ratiasu's head. She lowered her head and carried on with the movement of the slash. Both quickly then turned and slashed and their blades met once again.

A slight pause, then Ratiasu spread out her fan, the sword disappeared which made Carmesi stumble forward a bit, then she span round and fired a ball of lightning from the fan.

Carmesi saw it, "Reves," he said and a huge explosion occurred as both of them jump out of it with Carmesi mostly damaged. "So I see you've figured it out."

"Indeed I have. You've never used Reves when we were in close combat, and you only used it on my ranged attacks. Which means, you can only use your Reves ability on kido attacks, am I correct? And to use it effectively you can only use it at long range, a close ranged Reves would just blow up the attack and damage you more."

"Impressive, but still, now that you know how my Reves ability works can you beat me?" he asked rhetorically.

"We'll see." Ratiasu made her move, and used the extra speed given to her by her wings to charge straight into close combat again Carmesi.

Another deadlock as their weapons clashed. "So I see, that's why I'm still slower. Both our speed were raised equally, yours by your wings and mine by my resurreccion."

"And how's that going to help you?"

"It probably won't, but I like analysing these kinds of things," he said honestly.

His shadow blade went through Ratiasu's fan and was just about to cut her again when she flash stepped away, and followed it up with, "Wave of destruction, number two, Blaze Hellfire Blast.' A vermillion wire of fire shot at Carmesi, with the speed of a snake moving towards its prey.

"Reves," said Carmesi but nothing happened and Carmesi was forced to evade the attack with his blade. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked, shocked to find that his ability didn't work.

"You said you wanted to see the set of kido attacks me and Ketu made, so here it is."

"Alright that's fine. But if it's kido why can't I use Reves against it?"

"Should you really be asking the enemy questions in the middle of a fight? Well, I'll tell you anyway. We made this kido, so that no one else can use it, weather it'd be against us or wanting to learn it, no one else can use this kido unless they are related to both of us at the same time. It'll only recognize our spiritual energy you see."

"Very intriguing, so I see my Reves is useless against such a strong kido then. Alright. Show me more you've gotten me interested. So bring it on."

"You better not regret _those _words." Ratiasu's fan glowed with her spiritual energy. "Now that I can use my fan to strengthen my attacks you don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Oh really?" Carmesi still looked calm. He shot out a dark cero attack at Ratiasu without warning.

"Wave of destruction number one, white thunder," the attacks met and exploded.

"Like you, I have also made my set of cero attacks. And I haven't used the most powerful one yet."

"You don't scare me one bit." She fired another wave of destruction number one, which was again intercepted by a black cero.

"Please don't tell me we're just going to stand here blasting spiritual energy at each other and see which one is stronger. Because I'm sure you know that in brute strength alone, I am stronger."

"I just wanted to see what strength your cero had that's all," said Ratiasu.

"Fair enough then, so can we begin, properly?"

"Let's go, then."

Ratiasu vanished and instantly appeared by Carmesi's side and slashed at him with her blade. Carmesi ducked and attempted to slash her with his blade. Ratiasu sidestepped and blocked the blade just short of her body. She then flash stepped to the other side of Carmesi and spread out her fan attacking with kido. Carmesi span and avoided the hit, he then used the spin's strength and slashed at her. She blocked, but his power was stronger so she was knocked back a few metres. She didn't wait even a second and flash stepped back into close combat and made a few quick slashes which were all expertly blocked. She did a head slash, Carmesi ducked and pushed her away with his hand.

She back flipped and landed on her feet, "Wave of destruction number three, eternity of light." She thrusted her finger downwards and sent a huge shockwave of a white light into the ground. Carmesi shielded himself with his arms. Ratiasu took the chance and lunged with her blade. Carmesi recovered in time and fired another black cero. Ratiasu twirled as she advanced and fired a bolt of lightning. The lightning was fired back with Reves, she absorbed it into her fan which was now spread out and blasted it back combined with Wave of Destruction number one. Carmesi was blasted off his feet. Ratiasu flash stepped in front of him and slashed, Carmesi blocked but was shoved into the floor by the force of her attack.

He flipped up in mid-air and landed on his feet. "Shiro Cero." A white beam of cero hit Ratiasu who tried to block with her fan but was overwhelmed. She dropped out of the sky and stuck her blade into the ground for support to stand up.

Carmesi moved swiftly and was upon Ratiasu in less than a second and stabbed her straight through the chest just missing her heart. She grabbed the black blade and held on tightly even though her energy was being drained at a rapid rate.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Carmesi smirking.

Wave of Destruction number three, eternity of light," she mumbled under her breath and looked up. Blood was trickling out of her mouth and her face was becoming pale. Another wave of white energy was bashing into Carmesi. He retrieved his sword quickly as blood splattered to the floor and continued to flow out of Ratiasu's chest.

Carmesi was relatively uninjured as he landed comfortably on his feet. "Guess this is the end for you." He said as he prepared to fire another cero.

"Shut it, I'm not done yet. I won't go down that easily," panted Ratiasu as she clutched her chest.

"Give it up." He raised his hand, "Shiro, Ce-" Suddenly a bloodied sword came out of Carmesi's stomach and he dropped to his knees. Zeo stood behind him holding the blade with a tired but satisfied look on his face.

"Useless am I? You're regretting saying that to me now aren't you?" taunted Zeo.

"You," breathed Carmesi. He got up slowly.

"Yes me, now I have the pleasure of killing you. How do you feel?"

"Hmph, I feel good. Because now I finally can rid the world of you." Carmesi vanished and appeared next to Zeo and kicked him into the air. Zeo turned around in mid-air and fired a cero. Carmesi used Reves and blown Zeo out of the sky.

"You're dead," said Carmesi approaching him.

"I don't think so," smirked Zeo pointing at something behind him. Carmesi turned around and saw Ratiasu making movements with her fan.

"I don't think so either," shouted Carmesi and moved towards Ratiasu.

"Feng. Di. Liang. Hei. Hou. Shui. Dian. Bin. Shi jei de li liang. Di Qiu de hei. Liang shi feng kai de. Ba ta men fang zai yi qi." She sliced the air diagonally with her fan and disappeared behind Carmesi with her wings as spread out as they can get, at point blank range. "Wave of Destruction number four, dragon's radiance." There was one flash and her fan radiated out a massive amount of light, that engulfed everything around them including Zeo.

"ARGHHH," screamed Carmesi as he was disintegrated in the light.

The light faded and Ratiasu stood there and suddenly dropped to her knees panting and facing the ground. A sudden light was emitted from her fan as it rose above her and showered Ratiasu with flakes of light. She slowly regained her breath and her wound closed. The fan reverted back into her original sword and fell to the ground. She picked it up. "Thanks, for toughing it until the end." She walked cautiously to Zeo. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I really don't think this is a good time or place for introductions. But I'm Zeo Oseomartir, 5th of the Wujian. Pleasure to meet you," he said unable to stand up as blood constantly dripped from his mouth.

"Why did you help me then if you're one of them?"

"I don't have much time left, so I'll just say one thing." He smiled, "I fell in love, with one of your kind." He coughed and blood splattered onto the grass around him. "And I never liked Usaitar." At these last words he fell forwards and fainted.

"I guess it's true what they say, love knows no bounds." Ratiasu bent down and healed Zeo enough so that he won't die anytime soon. The world around them started to twist and turn and the skies melded with the ground, and in a short flash of light Ratiasu was back where she was before the fight started.


	50. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48 – 100 vs 1**

Ketu prepared for an attack as Emperatriz rushed towards. But she did not draw her sword, instead she jumped just in front of him and suddenly Ketu felt dizzy and everything around started to spin and he felt as though he was getting sucked into a vortex of some kind. The grounds and walls around him collapsed and he felt himself falling and falling into darkness and eventually losing consciousness.

It seemed like hours had passed when he finally woke up. He stood up and looked around gingerly, prepared for any form of surprise attack. But when he sensed no trance of spiritual energy around him he lowered his guard though still alert. He properly looked around him and studied his current position. He was standing in, literally, the middle of no where. It was like a desert, no trees, no wildlife, just a massive sandbox. He looked around many times to make sure that he wasn't dreaming or he has already died or something. But he could sense the same spiritual energy of when he was around Usaitar, so he knew he couldn't have died. He then looked up at the sky. There was no sky, it was just an empty void, a complete yet empty darkness where nothing moved at all.

He was about to move on and work out where he was before he suddenly sensed a familiar evil spiritual pressure appear behind him.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" asked Emperatriz voice.

Ketu turned around and readied himself for an attack, but nothing happened. Emperatriz was just standing there looking annoyed but calm.

"Yes I'm enjoying myself in this mild temperatured desert," said Ketu sarcastically.

"No need to be moody," she grunted.

"Speak for yourself."

"I have a reason to be pissed off. That stupid Usaitar forced us to fight fair against our opponents and this is the only time when I'm away from him to say that I hate it.

"You don't fight fair?" asked Ketu raising an eyebrow.

"Oh I do, I do fight fair, I don't back-stab, ambush, surprise attack or anything like that. Probably due to my master's influence. I just really don't like Usaitar's one on one fair fight thing. I mean, why bother dirtying my own hands when I can just call out a few friends to do it for me, right? He's too into that honour thing, all about fighting fair, no back stabbing etc. all that crap. I hate that part of him."

"You may not like him but you talk as much as him. Reminds me of Terri actually, sometimes she just can't stop talking, I'm not complaining though, she's always good to have a chat with. Ah, I love her. But I guess it runs in the family and you've probably been influenced more than you want by Usaitar which obviously isn't a good thing. "

"True I may not like him, but I still won't allow you to insult him like that."

"Actually, I didn't insult him. I just said you and him both talk too much. I mean, I'm a person who just like to get down to business straight away but then I stand here for an hour listening to you jabbering on about a load of rubbish, it's rather boring to be honest with you. Besides this is just stating a fact, nothing wrong with that is there?"

Emperatriz looked extremely annoyed and flustered. "You need to know how to show respect to those who are stronger than you."

"Stronger than me?" he asked sarcastically looking around. "Sorry I don't see anyone."

"You really piss me off. But no matter, you'll be gone in a matter of minutes and I won't have to deal with you again," she said confidently.

"Oh? Don't make me laugh, if you kill me then get on with it already. I'm waiting. Or are you too scared to attack?" taunted Ketu.

"Oh no, I'm not scared. Why would I be scared of an insignificant brat like you. I'm just letting you have a bit more time to live."

"I'd prefer it if you got this over with and I can get going. Either that or I'm just going to leave now."

"Unfortunately for you, you can't leave until our fight is done and a winner is decided. That means until one of us dies we'll be trapped in here."

"So basically I kill you and I leave. Correct?"

"Don't get cocky, you won't win against me," said Emperatriz.

"Alright, why don't you prove your strength already. I've been standing here for ages now and neither of us has moved an inch. I mean come on, this is boring. Draw your sword and let's get this over with already."

"I really don't want to dirty my precious sword you know."

"What kind of arrancar are you, seriously this is just annoying now."

"But." She raised a hand, "I can get other people to kill you." She moved her hand vertically down and a five arrancars appeared in front of her. They were weak arrancars, you can tell because they didn't even have a human shape. "Usaitar always say for us to be fair in our fights and to win with honour. He lets us have our own little army of arrancars, even if they are weak. He says be fair, but he never said we couldn't use our armies to crush our opponents even if there's only one of you." None of the arrancars carried a sword, all of them were deformed and look like a bunch of barbarians with no legs and twice the size of normal people.

"You think a bunch of idiots like that can stop me? I'm a captain for gods sake. If I can't handle those morons I wouldn't be a captain."

"True, but let's see how you do anyway." She waves her hand forwards and the five arrancars immediately move to her command.

"Well, I guess this'll have to do as my warm up then, at least I'll get to stretch my arms a bit." sighed Ketu.

He doesn't move, he stood there and waited for the five arrancars to move to him. The five arrancars simultaneously fired cero at Ketu. He doesn't move at all and the attack doesn't even reach him before getting deflected into the air.

The arrancars then used sonido and appeared near Ketu surrounding him. They all moved in and tried to punch Ketu. He again didn't move and none of the arrancars came in contact with him stopping just short of him but couldn't get through the force field around Ketu.

"Nope I guess I was wrong. This won't even be good enough to wake me up," yawned Ketu. He vanished and appeared again in the same position in less than a second and in that second the arrancar's shoulder's burst open, spraying blood everywhere and disintegrated.

"Not bad little boy. I can see why you're a captain at least," said Emperatriz with a smile.

"Is it just me or do all high level arrancars like to analyze their opponents' power before going all out?" asked Ketu scratching his head.

"Sorry, it's just a habit we Wu Jian arrancars have. Usaitar taught us never to fight a fight we can't win, so we have to analyze out opponents power first before actually attacking."

"Is that why you all talk so god dam long?"

"It could be, but I don't see how that analyses your strength."

"Ah who cares. There you've seen my strength for yourself, so will you finally fight now?"

"Oh, I dunno. I may consider it, but still, I can't be arsed really."

"You really annoy me."

"Nothing new then is it?" smirked Emperatriz.

"Just shut up," said Ketu he moved his hand swiftly and fired a hado four at Emperatriz without saying a word.

Emperatriz intercepted the attack with a cero also without saying a word. The attacks collided and exploded.

"I see you know how to use non-verbal kido attacks."

"Of course, I am a master of kido believe it or not. If I didn't know how to do non-verbal kido I wouldn't be a kido master."

"Yeah, oh I'm sorry. I dozed off," said Emperatriz.

"You are so dead." Ketu charged forwards without warning and fired kido attacks at Emperatriz continuously. She moved, avoiding each attack with sonido.

She jumped back and intercepted the last attack with a quick bala shot.

"You really want to die that badly?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just you try it," taunted Ketu as he stopped his advance.

"Just so you know, those five arrancars were the weakest in my army. I think as a fitting end for you, you should die at the hands of a hundred." She raised her arm once more just like when she summoned the five arrancars. "Fear my army because it's about to CRUSH YOU." Her dark spiritual energy spread out around her and immediately arrancars of all shapes and sizes emerged from the ground like zombies.

Soon Ketu was standing there being stared down by an army of a hundred arrancars.

"Better for you now?" laughed Emperatriz. "I hope this is enough to wake you up, because, if, you mange to beat this lot I wouldn't want to face a feeble person who couldn't even stand."

"So things can finally start to get interesting eh? About time," smirked Ketu flexing his arms and getting ready to face the incoming horde.

"Don't hold back my servants. Crush him with all you've got."

"Bring it." And a hundred cero beams flew towards him. Ketu reacted quick and flash stepped into the sky before any of those landed a hit on him.

"Rain from the skies, pillars of the heavens. Hado twenty-two, arrows of light." He chanted quickly in his mind without saying anything and shot out light arrows from around him piercing many arrancars and disintegrating them. He flipped up into the air and fired hado four repeatedly blasting many arrancars to pieces. He landed expertly in the middle of a large group of arrancars.

They saw him land and all attempted to punch or slash him all at once. Ketu ducked effortlessly. "Incinerate, flames of hell. Dissolve, waters of the sea. Hado sixty-nine, burning sea." He chanted again quickly in his head and a huge wall of burning water rose around him and washed out all arrancars within a ten metre radius of him like a tsunami.

There were still many arrancars remaining but they were retreating slightly.

"You useless idiots, stand your ground," ordered Emperatriz. The arrancars stood still immediately and fired cero.

Ketu flew towards them at a fast speed twisting and twirling in mid-air dodging the cero and counter-attacking with hado four and taking out a few more arrancars. He flash stepped and stood in front of one of the arrancars. The arrancar saw him and reacted instantly trying to stab him. Ketu sidestepped stepped forward and kneed the arrancar in the stomach and kicked him into the air. He then jumped up after him, grabbed the arrancar, chanted a few quick words in his mind and threw the arrancar into the others. As the arrancar smashed into the ground he exploded and took down all the arrancars around him.

"Nice, implementing kido. I haven't seen one of those in ages."

"I'm glad you like it, because you're going to be one of my victims." Ketu moved again, more arrancars blocked his face, he grabbed one and chucked it at Emperatriz exploding just as she jumped out of the way. He followed up the attack with another hado four, but two arrancars got in the way and were incinerated but the attack didn't reach Emperatriz.

She raised her arm once more and more arrancars turned up.

"One against a hundred eh? I like those odds," sneered Ketu. He moved out once more, flash stepped and appeared behind the line of arrancars as tens of them were disintegrated. They turned and fired cero at him. He jumped up and dodged them. "You know what I hate about arrancars? They are so simple minded, all they can do is wear white and use cero. I mean seriously, come up with something more original."

"Doesn't have to be original if it does the job," said Emperatriz.

"That's the problem. It's going to do bugger all." Ketu saw more cero, he flash stepped and avoided them. He closed his eyes and raised his hand into the sky and said quickly. "Skies darken and dragons roar. The land has fallen and the mighty will rise once more. Hado ninty eight, dragon meteor!" He then moved his hands downwards as if throwing something down. The skies filled with rock of all sizes and they rained down onto the hollows crushing every single one. Explosions filled the ground and screams of pain from the arrancars. Soon Ketu and Emperatriz was the only two standing once more.

"A level ninty eight kido? Extraordinary. But I found out that you're not strong enough to do that kido non-verbal."

"Big deal, I don't need to."

"Whatever you say then. I guess I should show you true power then. Yes, now that I have no army left, I guess I'll have to fight."

"About damn time, I was getting bored."

Emperatriz drew her sword. "So, you want to face me that badly do you? Well then, I'll show you. MY POWER." A dark evil spiritual pressure erupted from her and sent a strong wind of spiritual pressure that would have crushed anyone below vice-captain rank.

Ketu readied himself and stood firm in the presence of her spiritual pressure.

Emperatriz gave a scary grin, "Roar, poderoso accla**."**

**May have a lot of errors I apologise for that, I was a bit rushed to finish it today cos I forgot, the festivities got the better of me, hope u understand, also I'll be taking a break next week cos it's Christmas then new year, so see you all in two weeks**


	51. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49 - Fight Wind with Wind**

Emperatriz's spiritual pressure erupted with the force of a volcano even Ketu was nearly blown away. The everywhere seemed to have gone even darker than it was already. The ground around her were cracking up under the force of her spiritual pressure and disintegrating. Her spiritual pressure level kept going up and soon the entire ground of this part of the universe was disintegrated. Ketu was forced to jump up, but as he did his spiritual pressure level rose as well and dragon wings spread out from his back, they flapped effortlessly and he came to a rest in mid-air. The ground below disappeared replaced by nothing but darkness.

Eventually, Emperatriz's spiritual pressure stopped rising and her ressurecion was revealed.

Her face and body didn't change. She was now encased within what looks to be the skeleton of a dragon. Her face was protected by a dragon's skull over her head. She had skeletal dragon wings on her back that had small tears in it. Her body was protected by the rib part of the dragon and a large skeletal tail stretched out from the back of the skeleton.

"That just makes me sick," said Ketu with disgust looking at the skeleton.

"What's the matter? Did the sight of my might make you quiver in fear so much that you're going to throw up?" taunted Emperatriz.

"No. The sight of someone daring to wear the skeleton of a dragon as armour. Dragons are respectable intelligent creatures, wearing one of their skeletons is an insult."

"Well sorry if I've insulted you, but this is just what my true form looks like. I can never change that."

"All you arrancars are the same, scumbags who use skeletons. As I've said before, come up with something original already, you're all boring us to hell."

"Don't blame me, I don't control the arrancar world or how the weird system works."

"Aren't you like the most powerful arrancar here? Shouldn't you know something? Come on, you arrancars need to see more colours, be more creative."

"Why the hell do we need to do that? We don't need to make ourselves look pretty. All those colours just ruin out intimidating look."

"Some colours, mixed properly, can look frightening."

"Yeah, and they're mostly black and white for your information," argued Emperatriz

"Black and white are shit colours. I mean, look at you, a penguin in a tuxedo has more colours than you."

"You need to shut the fuck up. Weren't you the one who kept saying we should just shut up and get on with it? Now look at you, you hypocrite. You're the one who's ranting on about shit all this time."

Ketu laughed. "If I don't get the insults in now, I won't be able to when you're dead. Also, there's a time and place for talking. Now is a good time to talk." He grinned, "But it's also a good time to fight."

Ketu moved swiftly and was upon Emperatriz. He fired a quick hado four. She flew sideways, dodged and fired a cero. Ketu twisted in the air with his wings folded and shot upwards. He came to a halt and fired another hado four. Emperatriz shot up at him and rolled over in mid-air to avoid the attack. She appeared in front of him and slashed with her newly dragon designed sword. He ducked and moved back.

"Look at you, you're so pathetic you don't even have a sword to fight. That's how weak you are," laughed Emperatriz.

Ketu laughed also, "No, no, no. It's more like _you_ are so pathetic that you need a sword to fight against an unarmed person."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," she shouted angrily with a red face. She stabbed forwards and charged. Ketu flash stepped away. "Come back here, you bastard," she screamed chasing him.

"What's the matter? Can't keep up?" taunted Ketu as his wings beat furiously flying at a extremely fast speed.

"BE QUIET!" she shrieked and blasted a cero at him channelling it with her sword for a more powerful cero.

Ketu turned around and intercepted with a hado four. Then he fired another one straight after it. Emperatriz redirected the attack away from her using her sword. Ketu moved in closer and slashed his hand diagonally in the air sending a wave of spiritual energy in the form of a kido attack at her.

She slashed the attack in two but was sent flying back due to the force of the attack. Ketu moved after her and fired another hado four at her. She deflected it again with her sword.

"Is that measly little hado attack all you know?" she sneered.

"Oh don't you worry. You've seen what I know, well actually, you've only seen a tiny bit of what I know. You'll get to see all that I have soon enough, but for the moment I'm just messing around with you."

"Playing? No wonder your attacks are so pathetically weak."

"Oh don't worry, you haven't seen anything yet," said Ketu with confidence in his voice.

"Just you try it you pathetic excuse for a soul reaper."

Ketu moved fluidly and attack with a huge lightning attack, Emperatriz attempted to deflected it with her sword but failed as it exploded in front of her and blew her backwards. Ketu flash stepped past the veil of dust and appeared just before Emperatriz before she was able to find her footing and blasted the same bolt of lightning at her sending her into the sky. He flash stepped up after her, she was helpless in mid-flight and couldn't do anything as another bolt of lightning hit her and bashed her into the ground. Ketu did a finishing landing a ways away from where she landed.

Emperatriz was still standing, she coughed and blood splattered on the floor. She wiped her mouth and grinned. "Not bad. But, was that all you have?" Suddenly something from behind Ketu fired a cero at him and he was forced to jump on the floor to avoid it.

He looked behind him and saw another Emperatriz. "What the?" he though then turned back and the original Emperatriz had vanished.

"My sonido speed is so fast that a can actually make a fake image of myself when I use sonido. Unfortunately it only lasts two seconds, but that's enough." As she said it something appeared behind Ketu and slashed, Ketu moved but the sword cut his left leg.

"Not bad to you too, but that's not going to be enough to beat me."

"Oh really?" sneered Emperatriz, as her fake image stayed and her real body was already behind Ketu and stabbed straight through him. But nothing happened, Ketu's body just suddenly melted into sand and was blown away as a gale force wind with the sharpness of a blade slashed cuts her arm and legs. She jumped away from the wind immediately and avoided any more damage.

"How was that?" taunted Ketu with both of his arms raised in front of him.

"So, you use wind?" asked Emperatriz with an intrigued look.

"So what if I do?"

"Well then, that's good. Because," she vanished and appeared behind him. "I'm also a wind user."

Ketu moved instantly and a second later another gale force wind blew at him. He raised his arm. "Spirits of wind, god of wind. I call force thee, and I command thee. Blades of wind." He chanted quickly in his hand and matched Emperatriz's wind with his. There was a big explosion and both of them vanished.

Random explosions occurred in the minute everywhere and anywhere as the two wind users blasted blades of wind at each other. It was always an even match but neither side was about to let down.

"Looks like we could be here for a while," joked Ketu.

"You're stronger than I thought. It has been a very long time since I faced a skilled wind kido user."

"I've actually never faced any wind based people up until today. So I'm glad that I met you. But this isn't over yet." He sent blades of wind at her, she sent her's back and they collided. They moved at the same time and dodged the explosion appearing on the ground locked in close combat.

Ketu shot a burst of wind at her head. She moved her head back and dodged, then she span round and fired an arrow of wind at his chest. He fired his own arrow and both collided with an explosion which injured both fighters. He then flipped over her constantly shooting wind at her in his flight arc. She intercepted each one and jumped back firing a bigger blast of wind. Ketu jumped up into the sky and another wave of wind rained down on her.

She disappeared appearing in the air as well opposite him. Both reacted immediately and a huge explosion occurred as their winds met once more.

"Dammit, at this rate it really is going to last forever," thought Ketu.

He flash stepped and fired a barrage of sharp torpedoes of wind at Emperatriz. She had just appeared so she wasn't able to dodge, but she was able to minimize the damage by ramming her own wind into the attack. The explosion blown her into the ground but she still flipped back up easily and fired her own wind torpedoes back at him.

"You know what? This is getting rather tiresome and tedious," said Emperatriz.

"Bored? Don't you mean you surrender?" laughed Ketu.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm just sampling saying that we should kick this fight up a notch." As she said that her spiritual pressure went up again.

"How can your spiritual strength go up so high?" asked a bewildered Ketu.

"This is why I am the top Wu Jian. My powers are LIMITLESS!!" she shouted and in less than a fraction of a second a huge gash appeared on Ketu's shoulder and blood sprayed out like a fountain.

"Shit, that was too fast," cursed Ketu and flash stepped out of range.

"What's the matter? Had too much that you're going to run away?" taunted Emperatriz.

"Not at all, in fact, I've just begun getting serious." Ketu increased his speed also and blasted his wind at Emperatriz. She did not attempt to dodge, instead she blocked with one hand then flung the wind upwards. "Oh shit!"

A second later during Ketu's flight another gash appeared on his other shoulder and he fell down crashing into the ground with blood pouring from his shoulders.

"Poor you, looks like you couldn't handle it when I got even a bit serious," sneered Emperatriz, her spiritual energy rising again.

Ketu smirked, got up and charged straight for her.

"Don't make me laugh, with those kinds of wounds you can't even flash step so what are you going to try now?" she laughed firing huge amounts of energy infused with the wind at him.

"Let's end this here and now," shouted Ketu as his spiritual energy rose.

"It's too late now, my power is far greater than yours." She blasted more wind which was more powerful and faster than the other ones.

"Feng. Di. Liang. Hei. Hou. Shui. Dian. Bin. Shi jei de li liang. Di Qiu de hei. Liang shi feng kai de. Ba ta men fang zai yi qi." Ketu waved his hand in front of him. "Wave of destruction number four. Dragon's Radiance." A flash, then a bright light and there was an explosion as the light and the wind smashed into each other.

Emperatriz backed off immediately covering her eyes. The light vanished and she saw that Ketu was still there getting loser. She made her spiritual pressure rise once again and fired off thousands of wind arrows at Ketu.

"This could be interesting," thought Ketu as Emperatriz powered up again. "Now's my chance."

He moved his hands in front of him. "Hado eighty-nine, burning darkness." A snaky black flame crawled out from his palm and forced a wall in front and all the wind arrows smashed into the wall and exploded into a humongous outburst of flames. Ketu carried on and flew through the flames.

"What? He's using the explosion to accelerate? Shit," cursed Emperatriz as she saw Ketu's immediate approach. "Dammit, I can't attack."

A second later Ketu's fist smashed into Emperatriz's stomach and he forced her into the ground. "Exactly, you can't attack for a while after you charge. Aren't I right?"

"You-," coughed Emperatriz as she tried to get Ketu's fist off but coughed up blood instead.

Ketu jumped up and chanted out loud quickly "Feng zai tian shang, di bu zai feng shang. Wo de feng hu lai, wo de tian bu lai. Di. Feng. Shui. Hou. Tu. Wave of Destruction number five. Entity of Wind." The wind pressure in that part of the universe suddenly shot up a thousand fold and all that pressure came smashing down onto Emperatriz. She shrieked and within a second she was squashed into nothing more than a sea of blood.

Ketu landed and gasping for air, he may have been the one controlling that wind but he still took some damage. "Let's not do that again," he laughed weakly as the universe started to fluctuate and everything went to darkness again.


	52. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50 – This Isn't Goodbye, It's Until We Meet Again – (This is it, the final chapter)**

Haruka jumped back as Usaitar slashed at her.

"You're not as good as I thought," said Haruka smirking. "You're strength isn't as impressive as I thought.

"I'm going to tell you now, before we start doing anything. I don't want to talk. I'm here to kill you and that's that. Don't worry about your friends either, if they win they'll return, but if they lose, they die."

"Fine, fine. Have it your way. I'll skip the insults and cut straight to the killing."

"Much appreciated," said Usaitar with an evil white smile. He vanished and appeared behind Haruka, she moved round and blocked an attempt to slash her shoulder whilst he flash stepped.

"Nice try, but I'm faster than you think." Haruka moved rapidly and fired successive hado attacks at Usaitar.

Usaitar raised his sword and parried all the attacks and charged forwards readying his sword. Haruka swung down her sword and both swords clashed with an explosion sending them both flying backwards.

"You don't even have bankai, how do you expect to beat me with just a shikai release?" asked Haruka.

"I don't need a bankai. I can beat you easily." He flash stepped randomly around the room firing black waves of spiritual energy at Haruka. She slashed them all apart then blocked a frontal strike from Usaitar sending shockwaves across the ground and creating a crater beneath.

Usaitar pushed down then back flipped away from Haruka. She took this chance, got behind him and slashed down. He spun round just in time and blocked the attack with one hand on the sword, then he used his other hand and fired another wave of dark spiritual energy. Haruka flash stepped back and countered with a kido, it exploded as the attacks collided.

"Indeed I have found the adversary I've been waiting for," smiled Usaitar.

He shot out of the smoke and slashed again, Haruka blocked. The collision was so powerful that the ground below them crumbled. Haruka fell down into the darkness.

"Don't think so." Her dragon wings shot out from her back and she flew back up at lightning speed.

"To stop a dragon, you need to stop its fangs first," said Usaitar smiling. "Bakudo number 4, Crawling Rope." He threw a bright yellow rope and tied up Haruka's hands before she could react. He flash stepped and sliced Haruka's shoulder, blood sprayed out from the gash and she screamed in pain. "Still not fast enough."

"Bastard." Haruka forced the ropes apart and turned and blasted a wave of light energy at him.

He intercepted the attack with a wave of dark energy, the attacks hit and blew up on contact. They both charged into the smoke screen and clashed blades once more sending them both flying backwards.

"Dammit, I can't get close enough. Every time we hit it always explodes," thought Haruka. Usaitar fired a large bolt of dark lightning at her, she jumped out of the way and fired a hado four back. He flash stepped and advanced avoiding her attack. Haruka shot forwards and feinted an attack, Usaitar went out to block but she turned in the air and dodged the blade and slashed Usaitar's leg making a small cut.

"Not bad. But no where near good enough." Usaitar vanished into the universe and suddenly appeared behind Haruka and slashed at her back, she turned and jumped back just in time but was still cut across her leg. "In this universe, I control everything. You have no chance."

"Show's what you know about me." Haruka slashed at where Usaitar was but he vanished and appeared behind her in a split second and landed a slash on her back. "Dammit," she cursed.

"Die," she heard him say out of nowhere and thousands of darts of dark spiritual energy shot at her.

Haruka held her sword vertically in front of her. "Light," she said, and slashed her sword horizontally in front of her taking out all the darts. Usaitar appeared again and fired out dark balls of energy at her then he flew with them with his sword outstretched.

Haruka took flight with a wing beat and dived towards the balls of energy. She twisted and span in the air and dodged incoming balls, intercepting a few with quick hado thirty-three attacks. Usaitar appeared right in front of her she slashed at the same time as Usaitar and another explosion occurred on contact. Haruka held the deadlock in place this time however and pushed Usaitar off. "Hado ninty, black coffin," she shouted as a black box encased Usaitar.

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to work," said Usaitar's voice behind her. She turned round and blocked a sneak attack by him. "I can teleport whenever and wherever, a slow attack like that will never hit me."

"Fine then. How about a fast attack?" smirked Haruka. "Hado twenty-one, arrows of light." The arrows shot out of her hand and flew speedily at Usaitar, he flash stepped backwards but the arrows followed him. He stopped the arrows with blades of dark kido exploding on contact.

"Not bad, but still, you still need to do much better than that." Usaitar moved again and fired a close ranged black bladed kido. Haruka side stepped and avoided the attack, she stabbed forwards. Usaitar moved his head below the blade then raised his head again as he attempted to slash at Haruka's head. She pulled back her sword and blocked. "Hado 95, Dark Screech," he shouted as lightning formed in his hand and he forced his hand.

"Hado 94, White Howl," shouted Haruka as her hand was filled with a white lightning. Their hands met and the attacks blew up in a massive cloud of flames and smoke.

Haruka took huge damage, luckily Haruka's wings weren't damaged and she manager to stay airborne.

"Too slow." Usaitar appeared behind Haruka, she reacted but too late as Usaitar's blade pierced Haruka's stomach. He pulled it out and threw Haruka down, then suddenly ground appeared below her and she smashed into it. "I told you, I can teleport whenever and wherever. It was foolish of you to try and match my attacks at such close range.

"Shut up," panted Haruka standing up again, covered in blood and a sea of blood lay beneath her.

"You're a stubborn one aren't you. I will commend you on getting this far, and also on lasting this long against me. You've fought valiantly, but in the end you were just foolish and arrogant, and that's why you lost," said Usaitar with a grin on his face as he landed a few metres away from her.

"Shut up you bastard, shut up. I haven't lost yet," cursed Haruka as she lifted her sword slowly.

Usaitar shook his head. "Whatever." He vanished and slash stepped past Haruka slashing her shoulder as he went. Blood sprayed out and Haruka dropped to her knees. "Give up, you've lost. Won't you reconsider joining me then? If you do, I will let you live."

"Don't screw with me. I've already said no and I meant it."

Usaitar shrugged and advanced slowly towards her. She tried to get up with the strength she has left, but she fell down again every time she tried.

"Unfortunately this is the end of the road for you, Haruka Rose. It was nice meeting you." Usaitar raised his sword, but then his facial expression changed and he immediately jumped out of the way. A second later a few arrows landed where he was before. Haruka turned round and saw Matthew Richardson has appeared again!

"How?" gasped Haruka.

"I did say I'll be back. And here I am," said Matthew with his crossbow still aimed at Usaitar.

"Welcome back alive again Matthew. I guess they weren't strong enough to get rid of you," sneered Usaitar.

"Sorry, but I don't die that easily."

"So I see. I knew you were resilient to death the first time I met you, and I was right. But now you're just becoming a nuisance."

"You're the one who made me into a distraction. I really do hate you, you've just been using me. And now I will have my revenge."

"Oh I'm so scared, what are you going to do?"

"Kill you." Matthew fired two bolts from his crossbow at Usaitar. He flash stepped and dodged. Usaitar advanced with flash step towards Matthew and attacked.

Just at that moment Ratiasu and Ketu both stepped out of a dark portal beside Haruka.

"Rika, are you alright?" called Ratiasu as soon as she saw her. She lay Zeo down and ran towards her.

"Hey Terri, Ket. Glad to see you both won," smiled Haruka weakly.

"Come on, I'll get you patched up in no time," said Ratiasu.

"Yeah, you'll be alright," reassured Ketu.

"You're not looking that good either Ket," said Ratiasu.

"Don't worry, I'll live. Rika's more wounded, heal her first," suggested Ketu.

Just then Matthew came flying over and smashed into the ground behind them bleeding everywhere.

"Well, that was a waste of my time." Usaitar appeared the same as he was before. "I think that will teach you not to mess with your superiors."

"Brother," Ratiasu said under her breath.

"Well, well. If it isn't the lovely couple. I'm glad you two won, because now I have the pleasure of killing you all myself," he said.

"You monster, don't you care about your comrades who fought and died for you?" shouted Ratiasu.

"Comrades? Ha ha, that's too funny. They were just tools to be used, that's all. And also tools that can be easily discarded."

"I'll never recognise you as my brother," screamed Ratiasu.

"I never asked for that." Usaitar quickly shot out an arrow of dark energy at her.

"Terri move," shouted Haruka.

Ratiasu flash stepped and dodged it with easy then he appeared directly in front of Usaitar and stabbed with her sword.

Usaitar caught the blade effortlessly with his thumb and index finger. He raised his blade and slashed her from the left shoulder down to her waist. The blood was pouring and spraying out. "Oh? Guess you're as tough as I am. I did mean to cut you in half, but I guess this will have to do," Usaitar sighed and then kicked Ratiasu flying with her blood still spraying everywhere.

"TERRI," screamed Ketu and he flash stepped up and caught her, and lay her down. "Are you alright?" he asked hurriedly with a very concerned face.

Ratiasu smiled weakly and reached for Ketu's hand. "Don't worry, I don't die easily," she said feebly her face turning pale.

Ketu's hand shook violently as he held on to Ratiasu's. "Don't die on me. Please, I can't live without you."

Ratiasu sighed. "Calm down my love. I don't plan on dying for at least another few hundred years at least. I promise." She gave another weak smile.

Ketu seemed to have calm down a bit, he put her hand down and slowly stood up. "Yeah, a promise is a promise."

"This is all very touching but it looks like I have to end this sentimental crap because it makes me want to hurl." Usaitar appeared by Ketu and quickly stabbed piercing him just below the heart. He coughed and blood flew out of his mouth onto the floor. Usaitar pulled out his sword as Ketu crumbled to the ground next to Ratiasu. Ratiasu tried to get up but had no strength whatsoever. Usaitar pointed his sword down at them both. "Time for you two love birds to go bye bye. Those who fight together die together."

He swung his blade down, but just before he hit anything Matthew stepped in the way and blocked with his crossbow. He aimed with his crossbow and fired a large energy bolt, it slammed into Usaitar's body and sent him back a few metres. Matthew then charged and attempted to stab Usaitar, who blocked but then was hit by a hado four coming that came from Haruka.

She was standing up again sword at the ready, looking a bit pale and gasping for air slightly.

"Don't be ridiculous you can't beat me in the state you're in. You don't have anywhere near the strength to kill or to even catch up with me."

"Don't think so lightly of me. I can still fight, I'd gladly give my life to save my friends."

"Whatever you say. Bring it on then."

"I will." Haruka moved but she isn't as fast as before.

Usaitar smirked and then attempted to move, but something caught him. He turned round and saw that snakes had caught his leg and weren't letting go. "What the?" He turned and saw Matthew getting up with his hand outstretched.

"Heh, you're not going anywhere." Matthew ran up and grabbed both Usaitar's arms and stopped him moving. "Do it now soul reaper."

Haruka nodded. "Thank you my friends. I now have the courage to do what I must," she said to Ketu and Raitasu.

"What?" breathed Ketu. Haruka turned back to face Usaitar as a tear dropped fell onto the ground from her eyes.

Haruka's body started glowing yellow. "This is, my final attack. I may not have the strength to kill you, but my entire body will."

"Tch, I ain't sticking round that long," said Usaitar as he threw Matthew off and pointed a finger at him. "Hado ninty, black coffin." The dark spiritual energy of Usaitar concentrated in the attack and Matthew was engulfed by the black box.

When the attack finished, Matthew had just been sliced into a million pieces. Only his head stayed intact as his guts and flesh and everything inside his body dropped to the ground in a bloody mess, his eyes still rolled around unsystematically until they popped sending blood everywhere. "Worthless." He turned round and saw Haruka approach.

"You sick bastard."

"He was useless. He deserved it," Usaitar shouted at her losing his concentration.

"Bakudo number sixty, six bars of light." Usaitar was too distracted and didn't have time to move before six pillars of yellow light slammed into his sides and completely immobilised him.

"Wha the? Do you really think this is going to hold me?" he laughed maniacally as he struggled to break free from the pillars.

"Wo song gei ni wo de ming. Wo gen ni yi qi. Wo men bus hi tong nian tong yue ton ri sen, dang, wo yao tong nian tong yue ton ri si. Gei wo ni de li liang. Zai yi qi, qu tian tang. Hidoragon, Light of Destruction." As she chanted her body began to glow along with her sword.

Usaitar brock free of the bars just in time. "Light? The darkness will always triumph against such a meagre force." He raised his black and put all his dark spiritual pressure into it and charged as well.

Their swords smashed into each other and exploded in a fury of light and darkness.

"You can't beat me, you will never win," screamed Usaitar over the noise of the clash.

"Think again." Haruka pushed forwards, then suddenly a crack appeared on Usaitar's sword.

"What?! Damn you, I won't lose yet." He pushed more of his spiritual energy in and tried to push back.

"Evil never wins, you know this." Haruka gave one last burst of energy and with that one push she snapped Usaitar's sword in two. She carried the attack forward and sliced Usaitar in two.

"Bastard! I will kill, you worthless piece of shit!" cursed Usaitar as the blood spurted out from the waist.

"You're too slow," smiled Haruka.

Usaitar screamed and disintegrated as the light overwhelmed him and consumed him.

Ketu and Ratiasu both slowly got off the floor and limped towards her. "You did great!" said Ketu supporting a weak looking Ratiasu.

"Yeah… well done," said Ratiasu.

"Thanks, but it's a shame I can't enjoy the celebrations," sighed Haruka looking very sad.

"What are you saying?" asked Ketu a little confused.

"Well, that last attack I did, really is my last."

"Wait, what do you mean? You can't mean… you're serious…" breathed Ketu.

"I am." Haruka's tears flowed down her face and dropped slowly to the ground. Her body then glowed a bright yellow. "I'm sorry we couldn't spend some more peaceful times together. I had to use my life force to beat Usaitar. So I guess this is where I finish up." She gave a sad smile as her feet scattered away like gold glitter and flew off and vanished. She vanished slowly, working its way to the top.

"Wait, don't go. Please," begged Ratiasu reaching for her but tripping over as she left Ketu's support.

"Why now? Why leave?" asked Ketu. "We can still have so much fun together, don't just leave us like this." Ketu was struggling to hold back the tears.

"I'm truly sorry my friends. Please don't cry for my sake though. Live a happy and joyous life, don't let my death be in vain," she laughed. "But seriously though, do enjoy yourselves now that you can have some peaceful time." Ketu couldn't hold it in any longer and he burst out in tears.

"No, don't go. We still need you," he cried.

"I can't, I'm afraid. I think I deserve a nice long rest after what I just went through." She smiled again and then she completely vanished into a furry of glistening gold speckles. Her sword dropped from the sky and stabbed into the ground in front of Ratiasu, her necklace also dropped in front of her.

Ratiasu wept and wept, crying out, "Why? Why? Rika, please come back, I don't want to say goodbye."

Then Haruka's voice sounded again, "Don't worry Terri. This isn't goodbye. This is, until we meet again. So, do me a favour and hold on to Hidoragon for me until then." Everything vanished and there was silence in the pitch dark abyss of Usaitar's realm. Then suddenly everything started to shake.

"What's this?" said a shocked Ketu wiping his tears.

Ratiasu too wiped hers and got up slowly. "Now that the controller of the universe if gone this universe must be collapsing."

"That's not good, come on we have to get out of here." Ketu looked back at Ratiasu, she was still standing there staring at the spot where Haruka was standing just a few seconds ago. "Come on, remember what she said, don't let her death be in vain, we can't die here, if not for our sake for hers."

Ratiasu turned round and nodded. "You're never wrong are you Ket?" she smiled. She then picked up Hidoragon and the necklace and ran with Ketu. "How do we get out?" she asked as they ran.

"I'm guessing the same way we got in. Up ahead, I see the exit," he shouted as he saw the hold they used to climb in here. They ran, grabbed Zeo on the way and jumped out of the universe back into Hueco Mundo.

They landed on top of the pyramid that they entered. "Don't look back, just keep running," shouted Ketu over the noise of the universe imploding. They saw Hikari at the bottom of the stairs.

"Great job you guys but where's Rika?" Hikari asked.

"We'll explain later just hurry up and run," said Ketu quickly as Ratiasu was starting to look depressed again.

"Quickly now, that universe will implode in only a matter of minutes," shouted Shunsui's voice from the exit of the tunnel they passed through.

"We must hurry, if that thing implodes and we are near it we will likely be dragged into it and be killed," shouted Jushiro appearing also from the tunnel. All of them ran and hurried down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, back in the tunnel Matthew's body was slowly being put back together whilst they were all running and his body was completely reformed and he was standing up and stretching his body.

"Well that may leave a mark," he said drawing his sword again. "Huh? There's no one here and why is the ground shaking? And why is everything closing in around me? And where is Usaitar? Dear me I ask a lot of questions. Hmmm… let me guess, Usaitar's dead because that Haruka girl killed him and now the universe, without its creator, is imploding and I'm in a bad place at the moment. Yeah, that's probably what happened." He stood there thinking for a few seconds as the universe around him got closer and closer. "OH SHIT!" he shouted and immediately ran for it, he saw the hole to get out and raced for it. But the universe was imploding too fast and the hole to get out of the universe was closing fast too. He got there and stuck his hand out and was about to squeeze his way out, but the hole clamped shut, his hand was chopped out and fell on top of the pyramid wriggling about like a dead snake and everything around him just surrounded him in a dark abyss. "This is going to hurt in the morning."

BOOM.

On the opposite side of the tunnel the ground shook violently as the universe imploded and sent out huge shockwaves. No one stopped running, Ratiasu turned back to look as the skies got even darker. Ketu put an arm on her shoulder. She turned round and faced forwards again as a drop of her tears fell gracefully onto the floor.

**Note:** Incantation for 'Hidoragon, Light of Destruction' translates from 'Wo song gei ni wo de ming. Wo gen ni yi qi. Wo men bu shi tong nian tong yue ton ri sen, dang, wo yao tong nian tong yue ton ri si. Gei wo ni de li liang. Zai yi qi, qu tian tang.' to 'I give you my life. I'll go with you. We weren't born on the same year month or date, but, we will die on the same year, month and date. Give me your strength. We go, together to heaven.'

And there you have it, finished, it's been a long year and it's now finished, I'll write an epilogue for next week and I'll also explain what's happening to the sequel, yes there is a sequel tho I won't be writing it, but if I can be arsed I will write a second sequel i.e. after the sequel that's going to be written by my friend


	53. Epilogue

**Epilogue – 20 years later **

"Hey Terri," called Ketu. He was standing in the doorway looking as if he was going somewhere, calling back into the house.

"Yes?" came two voices.

"Come on you two, I don't want to be late," he called back.

"Alright we're coming," the two voices called again. Ratiasu appeared by flash step next to Ketu wearing a vermillion soul reaper outfit and her scarf on with her necklace dangling out. Then Terri, their nineteen year old daughter appeared running down the stairs with a vivid red kimono on. Her full name was Terri Erika Zakura, named after Ratiasu's nickname and Haruka's nickname. She had sparkling silver hair just like her mum and similar characteristics and also love the colour vermilion. She hasn't gotten her zanpakto yet but she's planning to enter the academy next year.

"Hey dad, didn't we agree to call me Erika?" asked Terri.

"Yeah, well. To be honest I don't like middle names, and besides I was calling you both, so Terri's easier. And anyway why does it take so long for girls just to get ready to go out, it's not like we're going to a party or something."

"You just don't understand girls, dad. Well then come on let's go," sighed Terri pushing Ketu out the door. Ratiasu smiled at them.

A soul reaper flash stepped in front of Ketu. "Captain Zakura. Captain Kyoraku says the preparation for the senkaimon is complete."

"Thanks, tell him we'll be right there.

"Yes sir," he confirmed and left.

"Well then? Shouldn't we be going there straight away?" asked Terri.

"Not quite yet, I want to see someone before we leave," said Ketu with a smile.

"I have a pretty good idea who as well," said Ratiasu.

"Hey Erika, meet us at the senkaimon, we'll only be a second," said Ketu.

"Alright alright," agreed Terri. Ketu and Ratiasu flash stepped away. "I wanna learn flash step too," she moaned and walked off to the senkaimon.

"This is the twentieth anniversary of Usaitar's defeat isn't it?" asked Ratiasu.

"Yep, and we did as Rika told us, we enjoyed our life," agreed Ketu.

"Hello!" called an energetic voice from ahead of them. It was Crystal and she flash stepped to greet them.

"Hey Crystal you're looking energetic today," greeted Ketu. Behind Crystal came running a load of soul reapers and ran past them hurriedly. "Hey, what's happening?"

"Oh nothing much, just that a few more menos grande has appeared and squads nine and three have been asked to take 'em out."

"That's annoying isn't it, I thought Usaitar was the last of our problems, but no. Ever since he died the damage between the path way was quite big, so many hollows are escaping here."

"Not to worry though, I've got it under control. Mine and Raven's will take them out with ease. You just remember to say hi to Naomi and Zeo for me and Raven," said Crystal.

"Sure no problem, but be careful out there," said Ratiasu.

"Hey no worries, it's me."

"And that's exactly why we worry," said Raven behind her. "Come on we need to get a move on."

"Hey Rae, I was going to invite you to come with us this year, but it looks like you're a bit busy. Well good luck with the menos. We'll be going then."

Raven stared at Ketu uncomfortably at first but then he nodded at him and ran off after the other soul reapers from his and Crystal's squads.

"Has he finally acknowledged your existence?" asked Ratiasu with a shocked expression.

"That'd be a first," laughed Ketu.

"Oh don't worry Rae does actually think you're alright. At least that's what I think. Well anyway see you two later," she said running off after Raven, "Hey Rae wait up."

"What a cute couple," said Ratiasu.

"Not as cute as us," smiled Ketu. Ratiasu giggled. "Well come on then, let's not keep our daughter waiting." Ratiasu nodded and they both flash stepped away.

"Well well, if it isn't our lovely couple," said Shunsui as they arrived. "So, you all ready to leave? Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course, our minds have been made for a long time," said Ketu.

"What do you mean dad?" asked Terri.

"Don't worry, you'll see," said Ratiasu as the three of them stepped in to the senkaimon and into the real world.

It was around nine in the morning on a Saturday and there were barely anyone out and about. Ketu took out a map from his pocket and unfolded it out. "Now I just need to remember how to read a map," said Ketu turning the map around, upside down and studying it in many different ways.

"Give it here dad, let me have a look," demanded Terri and grabbed the map off him.

"Hey I was reading that," moaned Ketu.

Terri studied the map for a few minutes, "this way," she said pointing to her left.

"Alright. Let's go," said Ratiasu. They followed Terri all the way whilst she read the map and lead them.

Terri held one hand up and they stopped, "we're here," she said as they arrived in a residential area full of semi-detached housing. "Which number did they say?"

"Fifteen I believe it was," said Ketu looking around at the houses and finding number fifteen. "Here we are." He rang the bell and waited.

"Hold on a second, I'll be right there," called a voice from inside the house. The door opened and Haodong stepped out in his gigai with some weird clothes. "Sorry about the delay, we stayed up a little late last night watching something and well Hikari decided to sleep in."

"No worries, we're late as well. You know, if you guys didn't move house every two years it'd be much fast to find you," complained Ketu.

"Hey don't look at me, it's Hikari who keeps wanting a change of scenery."

"You know, I'm actually very surprised that you two still have soul reaper powers even though you've stayed in the real world for quite some time now."

"Well the research department developed this gigai that let us keep our soul reaper powers no matter how long we stay in the world of the living. It's just in case if they need back up in the real world. By the way, have they found a replacement for captain of squad five yet?" asked Haodong.

"Not yet, no one can match up to Hikari's standards just yet, but they are still looking. They also haven't found a replacement for head captain. And soon they're going to have more replacements to look for," explained Ketu.

"Shame really isn't it?" sighed Haodong.

"Ah well never mind," said Ratiasu.

"What is dad? What're you guys talking about?" asked Terri looking up at Ketu.

"You'll find out," said Ratiasu patting Terri on her head.

"I'm ready," came Hikari's voice from inside the house as she came flying into the hall in her soul reaper outfit with her haori.

"Hey Kari. Should you really be wearing that? You quit squad five seventeen years ago," asked Ketu.

"Well, I've got to look like I was back then right?" she said smiling and walking out.

"Yeah I suppose, let's get going then no time to waste now."

"Enjoy yourself then don't go for too long," said Haodong giving Hikari a hug.

"I'll be back soon. You really should come sometime, you did contribute to our victory," said Hikari.

"Nah, I'm alright, see you guys later."

Everyone flash stepped away and Haodong closed the door.

They arrived on a large street full of shops. No one looked at them, they were invisible to normal people.

"Same place wasn't it?" asked Ratiasu.

"Yep, this way. I'm amazed on how forgetful you can be," said Hikari. "At least your daughter makes up for your forgetfulness," she said winking at Terri.

As they walked past a small café someone who looked exactly like Matthew Richardson was sitting outside slowly enjoying a cup of coffee. He blinked suddenly his eyes changed to snake eyes, he blinked again and they were back to normal. He finished up his coffee and stood up. "My arm aches dammit," he thought stretching his arms and then he walks off and disappears.

Ketu and the rest arrived at their destination just at the end of a large street where no one went and met Naomi and Zeo.

"Well look who's here, you took a long time," said Zeo grumpily.

"Don't mind him, he's just in a bad mood as always," said Naomi.

"I can see that," said Ketu.

"Well come on then, I'm not going to keep the gate over forever, if you don't go now I'm closing the gate," said Zeo who was keeping open the gate to Hueco Mundo for them.

"Alright, calm down. Let's go. You sure you're not coming Nai?" asked Ketu.

"I'm alright, besides I gotta report back to squad twelve later anyway. Well I guess this is it, for a while at least," she said. "See ya later."

Ketu nodded and jumped back into Hueco Mundo followed by everyone else.

After Zeo closed up the gate he asked, "This is it? What was that about?"

"You'll see, when they announce the new captains," said Naomi. Zeo shrugged and him and Naomi went back to soul society.

Ketu, Terri, Ratiasu and Hikari have arrived back at the resting place of Haruka and Usaitar. The great pyramid that stood here before is now just a pile of rubble and the barren land has now turned into a large meadow.

In the middle of the giant meadow was a gravestone, all of them walked up to it. On the gravestone was the words, 'Haruka Rose, the greatest soul reaper and friend.'

"Hey Rika we're back, and this time we brought our daughter along," said Ketu.

"Hi aunt Haruka," said Terri.

"She's a cute girl don't you think Rika?" asked Ketu.

"Ket, maybe that's not the sort of questions that's appropriate," scolded Ratiasu.

"Sorry."

"Hey Rika, sorry I wasn't there to bid you farewell. But, I hope you're happy up there," said Hikari tears flooding out.

"Come on Kari, we don't want to go through this every time we visit," said Ratiasu patting her on the back.

"If you can't cry when you want to how can you smile when you want to?" said Ketu looking up at the dark skies.

"If you're wondering, Hidoragon's fine along with your necklace, safely stored as always you can rest easy," said Ratiasu.

Ratiasu turned to Ketu, and he nodded. "Y'know Haruka, we've been thinking long and hard about what you've side. You said for us two to enjoy our lives and have some peace, but that doesn't happen in soul society. There's never going to be peace in soul society. Today is the twentieth anniversary of your going away. And this is going to be the last time we visit you."

Ratiasu nodded, "We thank you for everything Rika, and we will follow your advice and live a peaceful, happy life." Ratiasu and Ketu drew out their sword and Ketu pulled out an old fashioned key from his pocket.

They both gave their swords to Terri with the key. "Here, these are yours now."

"What? What do you mean dad? Mom?" asked Terri.

"You're old enough to take care of yourself now aren't you?" asked Ketu.

"Yeah, of course."

"That's good, then that means we can leave and have nothing to fear. If you have any problems ask Hikari, she'll sort them out for ya," said Ketu.

"Wait, what do you mean? Don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing," cried Terri tears starting to form in her eyes.

"We're leaving the soul reaper life and going to be live peacefully, that way we'll truly be happy. Don't come after us, because you know you can't even if you tried."

"I wish you the best," said Hikari giving them both a hug.

"I'll miss you Kari," said Ratiasu.

"Me too," agreed Ketu.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine, just enjoy your new peaceful life. It's what you've wanted for a long time now."

"It is. Terri, look after Doragon sumiyaka and Kaze doragon for us. And of course Hidoragon. Those swords are now yours to use and they will only listen to you. You have now by soul society law, legally inherited the three blades. Keep Haruka's necklace locked up though, we don't want that to fall into the wrong hands," said Ketu.

**"**Do well in your studies and make us proud, one day we promise we'll come back and visit," said Ratiasu.

"Wait, please, this is all too sudden. Do you really have to leave?" cried Terri.

"Please don't cry, you look much prettier with a smile," said Ketu.

Ratiasu held onto Ketu's hand and they walked away. A gate to the human world opened.

"Wait, please wait," wept Terri.

"I'm sorry, but you're a grown woman now, find the things you want to do and make the friends you want to make. We can't stand in your way forever," said Ketu. He walked through the gate with Ratiasu and disappeared.

Terri cried hard as they left. Hikari patted her on the shoulder. Terri screamed, "No, why now? I need you."

Ratiasu's voice called out, "You don't need us anymore. Enjoy your life Terri, that's the only thing we wish for you.

Then Ketu's voice said, "Our era has passed Terri. But your era has just begun. Make us proud to call you our daughter," and all was silent once more.

**To Be Continued…**

**(This is how the years divide up - 19 in the human world where time flows slower for Terri to grow up and just a year in soul society where Ratiasu and Ketu started Terri off in the academy)**

**As I said I won't be doing the sequel, but I may do a sequel after the sequel, anyway, I've entrusted the story to a good friend of mine, his name on the site is ****Elemental Hero Raeven**** he will start posting on Saturdays I believe. If ur wondering y I'm not writing, it's becos I want to take a break after writing for a year, so I'll be seeing you, hope u enjoyed this and thx for all the support**

**If there's anything about my fanfiction u don't get or want to know, send me a message and I'll reply asap**

**This is not good-bye, it's until we meet again.**

**Update: I have learnt that the sequel is called 'Evolution of Evil'**


End file.
